With today’s order list, the Texas Supreme Court issued one corrected opinion. That opinion, like the Court’s order earlier in the week about IOLTA accounts, concerned interest rates.

The corrected opinion replaces the former majority opinion in Columbia Medical Center of Las Colinas, Inc. v. Hogue, No. 04‑0575 (DB).

In 2003, as part of a tort reform package, the Texas Legislature lowered the interest rate that accrues on unpaid judgments (what lawyers call “pre- and post-judgment interest”). The Court’s original opinion had suggested that these lower interest rates might apply to judgments signed in the summer of 2003. The Court’s corrected opinion issued today makes clear that the interest rate change only affects judgments signed after September 1, 2003. (( The Court has provided this redline comparing the old and new versions of the opinion:

House Bills 2415 and 4 lowered the floor interest rate to five percent from ten percent, and the ceiling interest rate to fifteen percent from twenty percent in subsections (c)(2) and (c)(3), respectively, of Texas Finance Code § 304.003, effective June 20, 2003 and September 1, 2003. Act of June 2, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 676, § 2(a), 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 2097; Act of June 2, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 204, § 6.04, 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 862, 899. See also BIC Pen Corp. v. Carter, 251 S.W.3d 500, 510 (Tex. 2008). The amendments applied to final judgments that are “signed or subject to appeal on or after the effective date of this Act.” § 2(a), 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 2097; § 6.04, 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 862. The trial court signed the amended final judgment in this case on December 3, 2002, before eitherthe effective date. However, Columbia Medical argues that the amendments apply because the case was “subject to appeal” on or after the amendments’ effective dates. ))

The Court also granted a motion by the State of Texas to participate as amicus curiae in a Texas Tort Claims Act case being argued next month, City of Waco v. Kirwan, No. 08-0121 (DB)