Morris v. Department of Real Estate

Opinion

POCHÉ, J.

Defendant, Department of Real Estate (Department), appeals from an order directing it to pay postjudgment interest to plaintiffs, William and Lois Morris, on their 1985 award in the statutory amount of $20,000 payable from the Recovery Account of the Real Estate Fund. We reverse.

On September 26, 1985, the superior court ordered the Commissioner of Real Estate to pay plaintiffs $20,000 from the Recovery Account of the Real Estate Fund. The commissioner unsuccessfully appealed that order to this court which affirmed the order in an unpublished decision of January 28, 1987. Plaintiffs moved in superior court for postjudgment interest, and on April 28, 1987, received an order directing the Department to pay such interest. The Department filed a timely notice of appeal.

This appeal presents one legal issue: Does the statutory maximum of $20,000 per transaction imposed by Business and Professions Code

1

section 10474, subdivision (c),

2

on payments from the Recovery Account of the

[1111]

Real Estate Fund preclude payment of additional sums in postjudgment interest? The issue is apparently one of first impression.

“Sections 10450.6 and 10470 et seq. of the Business and Professions Code create a fund, derived from real estate license fees, for payment of claims on unsatisfied judgments against licensees for fraud or conversion of trust funds in connection with licensed activities.”

(Deas

v.

Knapp

(1981) 29 Cal.3d 69, 72, fn. omitted [171 Cal.Rptr. 823, 623 P.2d 775].) The fund functions, as the Legislature describes it, “by assisting in compensating individuals who have suffered economic losses by the actions of real estate licensees who are unable to respond to judgments, thereby providing greater confidence for the public in dealing with real estate brokers and salespersons licensed by the State of California.” (Stats. 1987, ch. 535, § 1, subd. (a).)