South Australian Numbered Acts South Australian Numbered Acts78—Payment of interest—limited statutory entitlement
(1) A plaintiff has only such right to interest on damages in a case where this Part applies as is conferred by this section.
(2) Interest is not payable (and a court cannot order the payment of interest) on damages unless—
(a) information that would enable a proper assessment of the plaintiff's claim has been given to the defendant and the defendant has had a reasonable opportunity to make an offer of settlement (where it would be appropriate to do so) in respect of the plaintiff's full entitlement to all damages of any kind relevant to the operation of this Part but has not made such an offer; or
(b) the defendant has had a reasonable opportunity to make a revised offer of settlement (where it would be appropriate to do so) in the light of further information given by the plaintiff that would enable a proper assessment of the plaintiff's full entitlement to all damages of any kind relevant to the operation of this Part but has not made such an offer; or
(c) the defendant has made an offer of settlement, the amount of all damages of any kind awarded by the court (without the addition of any interest) is more than 20% higher than the highest amount offered by the defendant and the highest amount is unreasonable having regard to the information available to the defendant when the offer was made.
(3) The highest amount offered by the defendant is not unreasonable if, when the offer was made, the defendant was not able to make a reasonable assessment of the plaintiff's full entitlement to all damages of any kind relevant to the operation of this Part.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2), an offer of settlement must be in writing.
(5) If a court is satisfied that interest is payable under subsection (2) on damages—
(a) the amount of interest is to be calculated for the period from the date of the injury to or death of the worker until the date on which the court determines the damages; and
(b) the amount of interest is to be calculated in accordance with the principles ordinarily applied by the court for that purpose, subject to this section.
(6) Nothing in this section affects the payment of interest on a debt under a judgment or order of a court.