Los Angeles Rock & Gravel Co. v. City of Los Angeles

This is an action for declaratory relief, the complaint alleging that a controversy existed between the parties as to whether the defendant was liable to the plaintiff for the payment of interest from the entry of two several judgments against the city for costs. The defendant filed a cross-complaint alleging that by mistake it had paid interest on one of these judgments; that it had tendered to the plaintiff in full settlement of the second judgment a sum equal to the difference between the face of the judgment and the sum thus alleged to have been paid through mistake. The trial court sustained defendant’s demurrer to plaintiff’s amended complaint without leave to amend and awarded defendant judgment on the pleadings. The appeal is on the judgment-. roll. The primary question is whether a municipality is included within the general terms of the Usury Act of 1918 (Deering’s Gen. Laws, Act 3757), which fixes the rate of interest upon “judgments rendered in any court of this state” at seven per cent per annum. The question is not a new one and the authorities in this state have uniformly held that., in the case of a money judgment against a municipality, interest should be allowed…