The Supreme Court Clarifies Kontowicz and the Accrual Date for § 628.46 Interest

by: Colleen D. Ball, Appellate Counsel, S.C.

The last issue of the CTCW Journal included an article explaining Kontowicz v. American Standard Ins. Co. of WI, 2006 WI 48, ___ Wis. 2d ___, 714 N.W.2d 105, which authorized Wis. Stat. § 628.46 interest on third-party claims.  After that article went to press, the supreme court issued a follow-up, per curiam decision clarifying the accrual date for § 628.46 interest.  The supreme court’s original decision was confusing on this point because Kontowicz was actually a consolidation of two separate cases decided by two different Waukesha County Circuit Court judges.  One judge held that  § 628.46 interest began to accrue three days after the claimant provided the insurer with the statutorily required notice of a claim.  The other judge held that § 628.46 interest began to run thirty days after the claimant supplied the required notice.  Due to this conflict, the supreme court withdrew language from its original decision and clarified that:  “Wis. Stat. § 628.46 interest begins to run on an overdue claim 30 days after the claimant provides the statutorily required notice (33 days in which the claimant mails the statutorily required notice to the insurer).”  Kontowicz v. American Standard Ins. Co. of WI., 2006 WI 90, ¶4, 718 N.W.2d 117.   Hopefully, the supreme court has put an end to circuit court confusion on this point.