- Last month the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a judgment wherein PNC Bank was refused a portion of accrued interest on a line of credit issued to borrower Paul Page (“Page”) and secured by a mortgage owned by PNC Bank. PNC Bank, Nat’l Ass’n v. Page, No. 21A-MF-1974, 2022 WL 964467, at *6 (Ind. Ct. App. Mar. 31, 2022). The trial court awarded everything that PNC requested in its foreclosure complaint except for interest which accrued from 3/16/20 to 8/14/20. The exclusion of this interest stemmed from an administerial order entered after the Indiana Governor declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19.
- Due to COVID induced delays in the court system, multiple courts in Marion County filed a petition with the state supreme court which sought relief from “laws, rules and procedures” which set time limits in civil and criminal matters. The Indiana Supreme Court granted the relief requested in the petition tolling all time limits and ordering that “no interest shall be due or charged” during the tolled period. The lower court in Page relied on this latter provision as the basis for denying about six months of interest to PNC in PNC’s foreclosure judgment. PNC appealed.
- The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the judgment finding the Indiana Supreme Court could not use its “rulemaking authority” to “change a rule of substantive law…” as it would violate the separation of powers between the judicial, executive and legislative branches of the government. The Court reversed the trial court’s order and remanded the matter for entry of a new judgment which included interest from Page’s default to entry of judgment without exclusions. This holding will affect hundreds of cases, possibly more. Our firm has already relied upon the ruling to obtain modified judgments which include previously excluded interest amounts.
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