Interest Accrued on Wisconsin Judgments Drops Dramatically
Under 2011 Wisconsin Act 69, which I wrote about in a previous post, judgment interest in Wisconsin will drop dramatically. Effective as of December 2, 2011, the interest rate on civil judgments is no longer 12%, but rather 1% over the prime rate, adjusted periodically. As if there weren’t enough traps for Wisconsin lawyers out there, now there’s a new math requirement.
It appears that the new requirements affect judgments entered on or after December 2, 2011, rather than applying only to suits filed after the effective date. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to have to get a new calculator.
To add to the downside, there will be a much reduced incentive to pay judgments quickly. I’m guessing the intent was to help businesses out, but what about the businesses that own judgments that aren’t being paid for years at a time? As you Wisconsin attorneys know, a judgment is just a piece of paper, and collection is the real issue. With this incentive gone, I’m expecting collections to be much more difficult in the future.
Photo courtesy purpleslog via this license.
