Cocotos Steamship of Panama S.A. v. Sociedad Maritima Victoria S.A.

146 F. Supp. 540, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2471
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 26, 1956
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 146 F. Supp. 540 (Cocotos Steamship of Panama S.A. v. Sociedad Maritima Victoria S.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cocotos Steamship of Panama S.A. v. Sociedad Maritima Victoria S.A., 146 F. Supp. 540, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2471 (S.D.N.Y. 1956).

Opinion

SUGARMAN, District Judge.

On July 10, 1956 libelant' filed a libel against Sociedad Marítima Victoria S. A. Panama (Victoria), George J. Stathos (Stathos), Maria Trading Corporation of Panama (Maria) and The Gallie Corporation (Galli) for breach of a charter-party. It contains a clause for foreign attachment of the goods, chattels, credits and effects of each respondent in the hands of respondents Gallie and Maria and in the hands of William F. Murphy, Sr. (Murphy, Sr.) and/or Wil[542]*542liam F. Murphy, Jr. (Murphy, Jr.) as garnishees.

The clerk issued process including:

A

Process in personam with clause of foreign attachment on July 10, 1956 against respondents Victoria and' Stathos and garnishees Gallie, Maria, Murphy, Sr. and Murphy, Jr.

The Marshal’s certificate recites his inability “to find the within-named respondent in my District” and certifies attachment of “the credits and effects to the amount sued for in the hands of” Gallie and Murphy, Sr. on July 11, 1956. He also recites without date his inability to find Murphy, Jr. and Maria in the district.

B

Process in personam with clause of foreign attachment on July 23, 1956 against respondents Victoria and Stathos and garnishee Maria.

The Marshal’s certificate recites his inability “to find the within-named respondents in my District” and certifies attachment of “the credits and effects to the amount sued for in the hands of” Maria on July 24, 1956 by exhibition of the process to and leaving a copy thereof with “Mr. Lamb — partner of firm ■of Purdy, Lamb and Catoggio”.

C

Process in personam with clause of foreign attachment on July 10, 1956 against respondent Maria and garnishees ■Gallie, Murphy, Sr. and/or Murphy, Jr.

The Marshal’s certificate recites his inability “to find the within-named respondents in my District” and certifies .attachment of “the credits and effects to the amount sued for in the hands of” ■Gallie and Murphy, Sr. on July 11, 1956. He also recites without date his inability to find Murphy, Jr. in the district.

Maria, Gallie and Stathos appeared generally on July 23, 1956.

The Stathos Motion.

Stathos now moves (Motion No. 123) for “entry of an order pursuant to Rule 21 of the Admiralty Rules of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, vacating and setting aside the foreign attachments made by libellant of credits and effects to the account of respondent” Stathos in the hands of Gallie and Maria, as garnishees.

Thus the attachments denominated A and B herein are challenged by Stathos.

Inasmuch as Stathos appeared in the suit on July 23, 1956, the process with clause of foreign attachment dated July 23, 1956 and executed on July 24, 1956, (denominated B above) insofar as it attaches property of Stathos is quashed.1

As to the attachment herein-above denominated A, in order for libel-ant to be required “to* show cause instanter why the * * * attachment should not be vacated” Stathos must, at the outset, submit “evidence showing * * * improper practice or a manifest want of equity on” libelant’s part.2 From the papers supporting his motion all that appears is that Stathos—

a) was born in New York City;
b) lives in Flushing, Queens (outside this district);
c) has a telephone listing in Queens;
d) maintains, and for 19 years has maintained “an office and place of business at 15 Whitehall Street, New York County, (within this district) under the name of Pelagic Co. Ltd., of which corporation” he is president;
e) was at that place of business every business day from July 10th to August 6, 1956.

It further appears from said moving papers that—

f) when the respondent Gallie and the garnishee Murphy, Sr. were served, no inquiry was made by the Marshal as to Stathos’ whereabouts;
[543]*543g) in the negotiations for the charter-party, which is the subject of this suit, Stathos conferred with Bauer, the president of the libelant’s “agent and chief negotiator” at Bauer’s office;
h) Bauer telephoned Stathos at his home in Flushing, Queens, and at his “place of business”;
i) during the negotiations Stathos gave Bauer his business card “which is the business card of Pelagic Co. Ltd.”.

Accepting all of these assertions as true and ignoring the denials thereof contained in the answering affidavits, in the light of the undenied absence of any listing in the Manhattan telephone directory for Stathos and the absence of his name from the building directory and entrance door to the office of Pelagic Co. Ltd., it cannot be said that Stathos has shown the requisite improper practice or manifest want of equity on libelant’s part required by the rule.

The authorities 3 offered by Stathos in support of his motion are inapposite. In the Provost case it appears that although there was a public record of the place of residence of the respondent within the district, the Marshal did not attempt to find respondent there before attaching her tug which was more conveniently at hand. In the Valmar case it appears that respondent personally appeared at the Marshal’s office the day before the libel was filed, made known his presence in the district and left a letter stating where and how the Marshal could serve him personally when the process arrived in the Marshal’s hands for execution. The facts at bar do not even remotely resemble those presented in the Provost and Valmar decisions.

Except as hereinabove otherwise indicated Stathos’ Motion No. 123 is denied.

The Maria Motion.

Proctors for respondent Maria move (Motion No. 183) “for an order vacating and setting aside the processes of foreign attachment heretofore issued herein and served upon” Gallie and Murphy, Sr., purportedly attaching the credits and effects of Maria.

Thus the attachment denominated C-herein is challenged by Maria.

At the outset movant’s proctors are reminded that citations in their brief should have been to the Federal Reporter system under the requirements of this district.4

Maria’s brief states that the basis of its claim to the relief prayed for is twofold: (1) that Maria was at the time of the commencement of this action and' at all times during the currency of process in this action present within this-district and amenable to the service of a. citation; (2) that the purported cause of action against Maria is not within the jurisdiction of this court.

As to the first ground, the short answer is that there remains, undenied the assertions in the answering affidavits in this motion that—

a) Maria has no telephone directory listing;
b) Maria’s name is absent from the’ building directory and office door of Gallie’s office where it is alleged to-maintain its office in Gallie’s suite at-50 Broad Street;
c) when the deputy Marshal on July 11, 1956 served the citation in this suit addressed to Gallie by delivery thereof to Murphy, Sr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 F. Supp. 540, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cocotos-steamship-of-panama-sa-v-sociedad-maritima-victoria-sa-nysd-1956.