Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corp. v. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County

237 F. Supp. 985, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7806
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 3, 1965
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 237 F. Supp. 985 (Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corp. v. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County) 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
Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corp. v. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, 237 F. Supp. 985, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7806 (S.D.N.Y. 1965).

Opinion

RYAN, Chief Judge.

This suit seeks monies alleged to be due on a public works contract dated July 9, 1956 between plaintiff MexrittChapman & Scott Corporation, a Delawax-e contractor with principal offices in New York City, and defendant Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant Coxxnty, Washington, a municipal corporation established under the laws of the State of Washington.

Suit was filed in the New York Supx-eme Court, New York County. A warrant of attachment issued on March 7, 1962. A levy was made upon certain [987]*987■funds on deposit with Bankers Trust Company, in New York City, for the •account of the District. Service of the summons and verified complaint was subsequently made upon the District at Coulee City, Washington.

On March 26, 1962 the defendant District removed the suit to this Court on ground of diversity of citizenship.

Prior to answer the District moved to vacate the warrant of attachment and the levy thereunder and to set aside the .service of summons on the ground that the funds on deposit with the Bank are immune from attachment levy under the doctrine of governmental immunity, or, .alternatively, are trust funds and therefore not properly subject to attachment. The District Court vacated the levy and set aside the service of summons because it found the activities of the District to be “governmental” and not “proprietary”, and accordingly held the District entitled to immunity. The Court of Appeals (319 F.2d 94) sustained the District Court’s finding that the funds in question were devoted to “governmental” purposes. It ruled, however, that a levy under an attachment in a quasi-in-rem proceeding against an out-of-state governmental instrumentality will be permitted to stand unless its effect will substantially interfere with the public duties of such instrumentality. Neither the District Court nor the Court of Appeals passed upon the trust fund theory. The motion to vacate the attachment and. service of process was remanded for further proceedings in this Court.

Subsequently and on further hearing, additional depositions and affidavits were submitted to this Court. The Public Utility District then too, advanced the theory that the New York Supreme Court and therefore this Court did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action because the contract sued upon was not made in New York.

We have before us the following three questions:

1. Will the levy upon the funds substantially interfere with the fulfillment by the District of its essentially public functions ?
2. Was the contract sued upon made in New York so as to give this Court jurisdiction over the subject matter?
3. Were the funds sought to be attached property of the District, or held in trust?

We find that the attachment will not substantially interfere with the fulfillment of the District’s public functions; that this court has subject matter jurisdiction because the contract sued upon was made in New York; and that the Construction and Construction Interest Funds are held in trust and therefore, are not property of the defendant. The attachment must be vacated.

I. The attachment will not substantially interfere with the fulfillment by the District of its essentially public functions.

We are concerned here with the attachment of two funds which were provided for by District Bond Resolution 313. Bonds were sold pursuant to this Resolution to finance the construction of a dam in the State of Washington known as the Priest Rapids Project and from the proceeds of the sale the two funds were set up. According to the Resolution (section 13), “the monies in the Construction Interest Fund shall be used for payment of interest on the Bonds during the period of construction of the Production System.” When the project is complete, any remaining money in the Interest Fund is to be transferred to the Construction Fund. The Construction Fund is to be -used for the “cost of acquisition and construction of the Production System.” (These costs are enumerated in detail in section 14 of the Bond Resolution). When the Production System is complete, any remaining monies not needed for the construction are to be transferred from the Construction Fund to the Bond Fund, which is established for redemption of the bonds. The funds which have been levied upon are to be used to pay the [988]*988costs of construction, to pay interest during the period of construction, and to redeem the bonds.

The Court of Appeals (supra p. 112) stated that there was evidence “that on September 28, 1961, the District’s Construction Engineer certified to the District that construction by the Contractor was complete * * * ”. According to the Court, however (supra p. 113):

“Despite the fact that the principal construction work has been completed by the Contractor, there may well be relevant work still to be done by others, payments to whom are provided in the Construction Fund. The navigation and flood control features have certainly not been completed and certain preliminary work may well have been done, payments for which may well involve the Construction Fund. The affidavits of the District tell us that the Corps of Engineers ‘is still acting as the land acquisition agency for the District,’ but it is far from clear whether there is any relation between such work and the Construction Fund. Provision is made for payments to other persons listed under the Construction Fund, such as the administrative staff, engineers, trustees and others performing various functions. Whether or not they have been paid does not appear. Data relative to interest payments is lacking and there is nothing to show what will be the significance, if any, of preventing surplus funds from moving to the Reserve account in the Bond Fund. *■ * * >>

Because the Court did not have before it sufficient data to decide the above questions, it remanded the case to us so that the parties would be able “to submit further affidavits or a stipulation of facts”, (supra p. 104) In light of this fresh evidence, we are to decide if payments remain to be made from the Construction and Construction Interest Funds, and if the. attachment will prevent the making of these payments. We are also to determine if redemption payments from the Reserve account of the Bond Fund will be obstructed due to its failure to receive surplus monies from the attached funds.

We find that the attachment will not prevent the making of necessary and legitimate payments from any of these funds. As we have noted, the District’s Construction Engineer certified to the District that construction by the contractor was complete save only in minor respects. He certified in these words:

“This will certify that the work required to be done by MC & S Corporation under contract documents 138-2 * * * has been completed and is found after inspection to be acceptable, with the exception of certain damaged or defective items * * (Letter dated September 28, 1961 from Harza Engineering Company to Public Utility District No. 2).

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

Related

Cassirer v. Herskowitz (In Re Schick)
234 B.R. 337 (S.D. New York, 1999)
Caballero v. Anselmo
720 F. Supp. 1088 (S.D. New York, 1989)
Baldt Corp. v. Tabet Manufacturing Co.
412 F. Supp. 249 (S.D. New York, 1974)
Emmons v. Ingebretson
279 F. Supp. 558 (N.D. Iowa, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
237 F. Supp. 985, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merritt-chapman-scott-corp-v-public-utility-district-no-2-of-grant-nysd-1965.