The Council of State Case Law Unification Committee (“Council of State CLUC”) issued a decision on 24 October 2024, with the case number 2021/5 and decision number 2024/2 (“Decision”), where it unified the case law regarding the determination of the initiation date of interest in full remedy actions in the case of value increase. According to the Decision, if interest is to be rewarded from a specific date for the amount requested in the statement of claim after the value increase, the same date will also be used for the interest calculation on the increased amount. The Decision was published in the Official Gazette No. 32872 on 16 April 2025.
The dispute subject to the case law unification decision concerns the determination of the date from which interest will be accrued on the increased part of the amount when a request is made to increase the amount originally requested in the statement of claim during the course of the trial in full remedy actions. This issue is related to the unification of conflicting case law decisions issued by different chambers of the Council of State on this matter.
With the Decision, it is aimed to resolve the contradictions regarding the initiation date of interest in cases where the amount has been increased, based on Article 16, paragraph 4 of the Administrative Procedure Law No. 2577 (“APLL”).
According to the Council of State CLUC, interest is considered a component of the damage incurred. The injured party gains the right to compensation at the moment the damage occurs. In accordance with the principle of full compensation, the injured party should be in the same economic condition they would have been in if the damage had been immediately compensated at the time of its occurrence, even if the damage is compensated later.
According to the Council of State CLUC, the plaintiff’s intention in filing the lawsuit from the outset is to seek compensation for the actual damage, and this intention includes the part that was uncertain at the time the lawsuit was filed.
Therefore, since the plaintiff’s primary request from the date the lawsuit is filed is for the full compensation of the actual damage, including the uncertain part, interest should be calculated from the same date for the increased amount as well as the amount originally requested in the statement of claim.
In this regard, it was decided by a majority vote that in cases where an increase in the amount is requested in full remedy actions, if interest is to be calculated from a specific date for the amount requested in the lawsuit, the same date should also be applied for the increased amount.
You can access the full text of the Council of State CLUC decision dated 24 October 2024 with the decision number 2021/5 and 2024/2, published in the Official Gazette on 16 April 2025, from this link (Only available in Turkish).
