Arkansas: Prejudgment Interest Rules
The short answer
Yes, but whether you get it at all turns on one case-law test, not the claim label: Arkansas allows prejudgment interest only when damages are 'definitely ascertainable by mathematical computation' or by fixed-standard evidence, regardless of whether the claim is in contract or tort. Once that threshold is met, an award is mandatory, not discretionary. The rate for a contract judgment is whatever the contract sets, or the Federal Reserve primary credit rate plus 2% if greater; every other judgment gets the Federal Reserve rate plus 2%, capped at 17% by the state constitution. County judgments never bear interest at all, and Arkansas's near-absolute sovereign immunity means claims against the state itself go to a separate Claims Commission rather than to court.
| Governing law | Ark. Code Ann. § 16-65-114 (sets the rate for judgments, including prejudgment interest 'if appropriate'); § 4-57-101(d) (6% default contract rate); Ark. Const. amend. 89 (rate ceiling); the entitlement test itself comes entirely from case law (Woodline Motor Freight v. Troutman Oil) |
|---|---|
| Interest rate | Contract judgment: the contract's own rate, or the Federal Reserve primary credit rate plus 2%, whichever is greater; any other judgment: Federal Reserve primary credit rate plus 2%; both capped at 17%/yr by Ark. Const. amend. 89 |
| When interest starts running | From the date the damages became fixed or ascertainable (typically the date of breach for a contract claim); case law folds the start date into the same ascertainability test as the entitlement question itself |
| Contract vs. tort claims | The entitlement test (ascertainability) applies uniformly to both claim types per Woodline; only the applicable RATE differs by contract vs. non-contract judgment under § 16-65-114 |
| Mandatory or discretionary | Mandatory as a matter of law once damages are shown to be ascertainable; the only real discretion is in the antecedent factual finding of ascertainability itself |
| Simple or compound | No Arkansas statute or case located that authorizes compounding; every rate is stated as a simple per-annum figure, so simple interest is the working assumption |
| Claims against the government | The State of Arkansas cannot be sued in its own courts at all (Ark. Const. art. 5, § 20); claims go to the State Claims Commission instead, capped at $15,000 without legislative approval, and no located provision authorizes the Commission to award prejudgment interest; county judgments never bear any interest, statutorily |
| Other exceptions | A judgment against a county on a county warrant or other county indebtedness bears no interest at all (§ 16-65-114(b)); no Arkansas rule located that categorically bars prejudgment interest on a punitive-damages component distinct from the ascertainability analysis |
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The short answer
Arkansas doesn't decide prejudgment interest by asking whether your claim is a contract claim or a tort claim. It asks whether your damages could be pinned down to a specific number without a jury having to use its own judgment to get there. If they could — a debt, an invoice, a repair bill — interest is owed as of right, no matter how the claim is labeled. If they couldn't — most personal-injury verdicts, where pain and suffering or future losses require a jury's own assessment — no prejudgment interest is available at all. The statute only steps in once you clear that threshold, to set the rate.
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Two statutes and one controlling case work together. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-65-114 sets the rate a judgment bears, and since a 2019 rewrite (Act 995), it expressly says a judgment bears prejudgment interest "if appropriate under the facts of the case" — but the statute itself doesn't define "appropriate." That definition comes entirely from the Arkansas Supreme Court's decision in Woodline Motor Freight, Inc. v. Troutman Oil Co., which supplies the actual entitlement test. Ark. Code Ann. § 4-57-101(d) supplies a default 6% rate for a contract that doesn't state its own interest rate, and Ark. Const. amend. 89 sets an outer ceiling on any interest rate charged in the state.
Interest rate
For a judgment in a contract action, the rate is whatever the contract itself provides, or the Federal Reserve's primary credit rate plus 2 percentage points — whichever is greater. For any other judgment (most torts fall here), the rate is simply the Federal Reserve primary credit rate plus 2%. Either way, the total can never exceed the state constitution's 17%-per-year ceiling. Because the Federal Reserve's primary credit rate moves over time, this is a floating rate that has to be checked as of the date judgment is entered, not assumed from a prior case.
When interest starts running
Arkansas doesn't have a separate, freestanding accrual-date rule. The Arkansas Supreme Court's test folds the "when does it start" question into the same ascertainability inquiry that decides whether interest is available at all: interest runs from the date a fixed method existed to calculate the exact value of the claim — for a straightforward contract debt, that's usually the date of the breach. If damages can't be pinned to a specific dollar figure until later (or ever), there's no earlier date to run interest from.
Contract vs. tort claims
The Arkansas Supreme Court has been explicit that the contract/tort label isn't what matters: "an award of prejudgment interest is not dependent on whether the action is in contract or tort." What decides the case is whether the damages were fixed, or could be calculated by simple math, at the relevant point in time — a rule that applies the same way regardless of how the claim is captioned. The one place contract and tort genuinely diverge is the interest rate itself, which the statute sets differently for a contract judgment than for any other judgment.
Mandatory or discretionary
Once a court finds the damages ascertainable, awarding interest is not optional — the Arkansas Supreme Court has said the injured party "is always entitled to it as a matter of law" at that point, and refusing to award it is reversible error. The real discretion in Arkansas law sits one step earlier, in deciding whether the damages actually meet the ascertainability standard in the first place.
Simple or compound
No Arkansas statute or case located this session expressly authorizes compounding of prejudgment interest. Every rate provision — the 6% contract default, the Federal-Reserve-plus-2% formula, the 17% constitutional ceiling — is phrased as a plain annual percentage with no compounding language, so simple interest is the working rule absent a contract that says otherwise.
Claims against the government
Arkansas's sovereign immunity is unusually strong: the state constitution says flatly that "the State of Arkansas shall never be made defendant in any of her courts," and the Arkansas Supreme Court held in 2018 that the legislature can't waive that immunity by statute. As a practical result, an ordinary tort or contract suit against the State of Arkansas doesn't happen in circuit court at all — it goes instead to the Arkansas State Claims Commission, a non-judicial body that can't pay an award over $15,000 without legislative approval. No provision in the Commission's governing statutes located this session addresses prejudgment interest as part of a Commission award. Separately, and more concretely: a judgment against a county on a county warrant or other county debt draws no interest whatsoever, under the plain text of § 16-65-114(b).
Other exceptions
Beyond the county-judgment interest bar, this survey did not locate an Arkansas statute or case squarely holding that punitive damages are categorically excluded from prejudgment interest (separate from the general ascertainability rule, which independently makes most punitive awards ineligible anyway since they're not a fixed, calculable sum). No Arkansas-specific offer-of-judgment rule altering prejudgment interest based on a rejected settlement offer was found.
What trips people up
The biggest trap is assuming "tort case" automatically means "no prejudgment interest," or that "contract case" automatically means you get it. Neither is true in Arkansas — a property-damage tort claim with a clear repair estimate can qualify for interest just as easily as a debt claim, while an unliquidated contract dispute (say, over the value of services rendered) can fail the same test a personal-injury claim would fail. Always ask whether the dollar figure could have been calculated without a jury's own judgment call, not what kind of claim it is.
The floating rate is the other common miss: because the rate is tied to the Federal Reserve's primary credit rate as of the judgment date, quoting an old number from a prior case can understate or overstate the actual current rate by a wide margin.
Common questions
Does Arkansas give prejudgment interest on personal-injury verdicts?
Rarely. Most personal-injury damages (pain and suffering, future medical costs) require a jury's own judgment to fix, which fails the ascertainability test — but a portion of damages that IS fixed, like a specific, undisputed medical bill, could still qualify.
What rate applies if my contract doesn't say what interest applies?
The greater of two figures: the Federal Reserve primary credit rate plus 2%, capped at 17% by the state constitution — Arkansas's separate 6% "default contract rate" statute fills a different gap (a contract silent on rate generally) rather than the judgment-interest rate itself.
Can I get prejudgment interest against the State of Arkansas?
You can't sue the state in court at all — claims go to the State Claims Commission, which caps most awards at $15,000 and, so far as this survey found, has no provision for awarding prejudgment interest.
Does interest compound in Arkansas?
No indication that it does. Every rate is stated as a flat annual percentage, so treat it as simple interest.
Statutes and sources
- Ark. Code Ann. § 16-65-114 — "Except as provided in subdivision (a)(2) of this section, a judgment entered by a court shall bear post-judgment interest and, if appropriate under the facts of the case, prejudgment interest: (A) In an action on a contract at the rate provided by the contract or at a rate equal to the Federal Reserve primary credit rate in effect on the date on which the judgment is entered plus two percent (2%), whichever is greater; and (B) In any other action at a rate equal to the Federal Reserve primary credit rate in effect on the date on which the judgment is entered plus two percent (2%). (2) Interest on a judgment shall not exceed the maximum rate permitted under Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 89. (b) A judgment rendered or to be rendered against a county in the state on a county warrant or other evidence of county indebtedness shall not bear interest." Accessed 2026-07-05: https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-65/subchapter-1/section-16-65-114/
- Ark. Code Ann. § 4-57-101(d) — "The rate of interest under a contract in which a rate of interest is not specified is six percent (6%) per annum." Accessed 2026-07-05: https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-4/subtitle-5/chapter-57/section-4-57-101/
- Ark. Const. amend. 89, § 3 — "The maximum lawful rate of interest on loans or contracts not described in Sections 1 and 2 shall not exceed seventeen percent (17%) per annum." Accessed 2026-07-05: https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/arkansas-constitution-of-1874/ar-const-amend-89-sect-3/
- Ark. Const. art. 5, § 20 — "The State of Arkansas shall never be made defendant in any of her courts." Accessed 2026-07-05: https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FAssembly%2FMeeting+Attachments%2F090%2F271%2FOverview+of+Sovereign+Immunity+and+Board+of+Trustees+of+the+University++++.pdf
- Ark. Code Ann. § 19-10-215(a) — "the Arkansas State Claims Commission shall not pay an award in excess of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000)" without legislative approval. Accessed 2026-07-05: https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-19/chapter-10/subchapter-2/section-19-10-215/
- Woodline Motor Freight, Inc. v. Troutman Oil Co., 938 S.W.2d 565 (Ark. 1997) — "Prejudgment interest is allowable where the amount of damages is definitely ascertainable by mathematical computation, or if the evidence furnishes data that make it possible to compute the amount without reliance on opinion or discretion... an award of prejudgment interest is not dependent on whether the action is in contract or tort." Accessed 2026-07-05 via CourtListener (legalresearch tool).
- Ozarks Unlimited Resources Coop., Inc. v. Daniels, 333 Ark. 214 (1998); Pro-Comp Mgmt., Inc. v. R.K. Enterprises, LLC, 372 Ark. 190 (2008) — "Where prejudgment interest may be collected at all, the injured party is always entitled to it as a matter of law." Accessed 2026-07-05 via CourtListener (legalresearch tool).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.