Prejudgment Interest Rules in Connecticut
At a glance
| Governing law | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 37-3a governs discretionary detention-of-money interest; § 37-3b separately governs negligence injury claims; § 52-192a adds rejected-offer interest. |
|---|---|
| Interest rate | Up to 10% yearly under § 37-3a(a), with a 5% ceiling for hospital-services debt (§ 37-3a(b)); up to 10% after the verdict/judgment trigger for negligence (§ 37-3b(a)); 8% for a qualifying rejected offer (§ 52-192a(c)). |
| When interest starts running | § 37-3a: after money becomes payable; § 37-3b negligence interest: 20 days after judgment or 90 days after verdict, whichever earlier; § 52-192a: complaint filing if offer filed within 18 months, otherwise offer filing. |
| Contract vs. tort claims | A claim for payable detained money can qualify under § 37-3a, including contract claims; negligence personal-injury and property-damage actions use § 37-3b instead; rejected offers may trigger § 52-192a in money-damages actions. |
| Mandatory or discretionary | § 37-3a says interest “may” be recovered; § 37-3b says negligence interest “shall” be recovered after its start trigger; § 52-192a(c) says the court “shall” add interest when the offer is beaten. |
| Simple or compound | The cited interest provisions state yearly rates but no general compounding instruction (§§ 37-3a, 37-3b, 52-192a); no universal compounding formula is stated here. |
| Claims against the government | State money claims ordinarily go through Claims Commissioner authorization (§ 4-160(a)); the official § 52-192a annotation says its offer-interest rule does not apply to the state absent an express immunity waiver. |
| Other exceptions | Hospital-services debt has a 5% cap (§ 37-3a(b)); qualifying rejected offers add 8% interest (§ 52-192a(c)); negligence interest starts after the statutory verdict/judgment trigger (§ 37-3b(a)). Condemnation uses a separate § 37-3c rule outside this topic. |
Requirements one by one
General interest and rate
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 37-3a(a) allows interest of “ten per cent a year, and no more” as damages for detention of money after it becomes payable. The word “may” leaves the award to the court. The official annotation to § 37-3a(a) explains that fairness and equity govern; proof of wrongfulness beyond the underlying legal claim is not an added categorical requirement. A debt arising from hospital services has a separate 5% ceiling under § 37-3a(b).
Negligence claims
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 37-3b(a)-(b) governs negligence-caused injury to a person or real or personal property. Its interest runs from 20 days after judgment or 90 days after verdict, whichever is earlier, rather than from the injury date. Subsection (b) tolls the plaintiff’s interest during a plaintiff-filed postverdict motion or appeal, subject to its response exception.
Rejected offers
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-192a(a), (c) permits a plaintiff to file an offer in a contract or money-damages action within the statutory window. If the defendant does not accept and the plaintiff recovers at least the offered amount, the court adds 8% annual interest. The start is complaint filing for an offer within 18 months of filing; for a later offer, it is the offer date. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-192a(b) gives health-care-negligence claims a 365-day earliest offer date after service, instead of the general 180-day date.
Claims against the state
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-160(a) authorizes the Claims Commissioner to permit suit on certain claims against the state. The official Title 4, Chapter 53 annotation describes the jurisdictional effect of bypassing that process. The official annotation to § 52-192a(c) says the offer-interest provision does not apply to the state because sovereign immunity was not expressly waived.
What trips people up
An older West Haven Sound Development Corp. v. City of West Haven, 207 Conn. 308 (1988), opinion describes § 37-3a interest as an equitable award and ordinarily starts it when money is due. The current official § 37-3a annotation cites a later decision at 310 Conn. 38 rejecting an extra proof-of-wrongfulness requirement. Read the statute and that current annotation together.
The cited statutes specify yearly rates but no general compounding method. Condemnation uses a separate interest provision, § 37-3c, outside this survey’s ordinary civil-claim scope. The 8% offer-interest provision is a separate procedure; its conditions must be checked even where ordinary § 37-3a interest is possible.
Common questions
Does negligence interest run from the accident? Section 37-3b(a) uses a verdict-or-judgment trigger, so its stated interest period begins later.
Does the 10% rate always apply? No. Section 37-3a(a) permits up to 10%, while its hospital-services subsection caps the rate at 5%.
Statutes and sources
- Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 37-3a(a)-(b), 37-3b(a)-(b), official Chapter 673 and annotations, accessed 2026-10-06: https://prdext3.cga.ct.gov/2025/pub/chap_673.htm
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-192a(a)-(c), official Chapter 900 and annotations, accessed 2026-10-06: https://prdext3.cga.ct.gov/2025/pub/chap_900.htm
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-160(a), official Title 4, Chapter 53 and annotations, accessed 2026-10-06: https://prdext3.cga.ct.gov/2025/pub/chap_053.htm
- West Haven Sound Development Corp. v. City of West Haven, 207 Conn. 308 (1988), retrieved 2026-10-06: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7893158/
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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