166
Opinion of the Court
judges of which are Texans, held that Texas also follows this rule, citing Sellers v. Harris County, 483 S. W. 2d 242, 243 (Tex. 1972) ("The interest earned by deposit of money owned by the parties to the lawsuit is an increment that accrues to that money and to its owners"). Indeed, in Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc. v. Beckwith, 449 U. S. 155, 162 (1980), we cited the Sellers opinion as demonstrative of the general rule that "any interest . . . follows the principal."
In Webb's, we addressed a Florida statute providing that interest accruing on an interpleader fund deposited in the registry of the court " 'shall be deemed income of the office of the clerk of the circuit court.' " Id., at 156, n. 1 (quoting Fla. Stat. § 28.33 (1977)) (emphasis deleted). The appellant in that case filed an interpleader action in Florida state court and tendered the sum at issue, nearly $2 million, into court. In addition to deducting $9,228.74 from the interpleader fund as a fee "for services rendered," the clerk of court also retained the more than $100,000 in interest income generated
missioners v. Montoya, 91 N. M. 421, 423, 575 P. 2d 605, 607 (1978) ("[T]he general rule is that interest is an accretion or increment to the principal fund earning it"); Stuarco, Inc. v. Slafbro Realty Corp., 30 App. Div. 2d 80, 82, 289 N. Y. S. 2d 883, 885 (1968) (plaintiff "is entitled to the interest actually accrued . . . despite the absence of any agreement to pay interest on the deposit, and this precisely and only because interest was in fact earned thereon"); McMillan v. Robeson County, 262 N. C. 413, 417, 137 S. E. 2d 105, 108 (1964) ("The earnings on the fund are a mere incident of ownership of the fund itself"); Des Moines Mut. Hail & Cyclone Ins. Assn. v. Steen, 43 N. D. 298, 301, 175 N. W. 195 (1919) ("[A]ccruing interest follows the principal"); Board of Educ., Woodward Pub. Schools v. Hensely, 665 P. 2d 327, 331 (Okla. App. 1983) ("The interest earned . . . becomes a part of the principal of the fund which generates it"); University of S. C. v. Elliott, 248 S. C. 218, 220, 149 S. E. 2d 433, 434 (1966) ("[I]nterest earned . . . is simply an increment of the principal fund, making the interest the property of the party who owned the principal fund"); Board of County Commissioners of the County of Laramie v. Laramie County School Dist. No. One, 884 P. 2d 946, 953 (Wyo. 1994) ("In general, interest is merely an incident of the principal fund, making it the property of the party owning the principal fund").
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