Hunt

Civil Code section 1719 1 permits a payee seeking to recover on a dishonored check to collect a service charge, or treble the amount of the dishonored check if certain statutory requirements are met. Section 3287 governs the award of prejudgment interest on damages. We granted a request by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.548) to decide a question of California law: whether a debt collector recovering on a dishonored check may recover both a service charge under section 1719 and prejudgment interest under section 3287.

We conclude that the statutory damages prescribed in section 1719 are exclusive in the sense that a debt collector who recovers a service charge pursuant to section 1719 may not also recover prejudgment interest under section 3287.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 5, 2004, Brandy Hunt wrote a $137.15 check to Pak ’n Save, a supermarket operated by Safeway, Inc. (Safeway). The check was returned unpaid due to insufficient funds. Safeway referred the matter to Imperial Merchant Services, Inc., doing business as Check Recovery Systems (CRS) for collection.

CRS then mailed Hunt two collection…