Strachman v. Palestinian Authority

73 A.D.3d 124, 901 N.Y.S.2d 582
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 30, 2010
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 73 A.D.3d 124 (Strachman v. Palestinian Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Strachman v. Palestinian Authority, 73 A.D.3d 124, 901 N.Y.S.2d 582 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

Catterson, J.

The sole issue in this appeal is whether the plaintiffs, judgment creditors of the Palestinian Authority (hereinafter referred to as PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (hereinafter referred to as PLO), have a right to a jury trial in a declaratory judgment action. The action seeks to establish the PA’s ownership of more than $100 million in securities and debt instruments frozen by Swiss American Securities Inc., (hereinafter referred to as SASI) in New York. Thus, as set forth below, this Court’s task is to find an 1894 analog for a claim of money-laundering designed to interfere with the execution of a judgment.

The plaintiffs are the survivors and the administrator of the estate of United States citizen Yaron Ungar, who was murdered with his pregnant wife in a terrorist machine-gun attack in June 1996 in Israel. The plaintiffs alleged that the attack was carried out by members of Hamas acting under the command of the PA and the PLO. In July 2004, the plaintiffs obtained a default judgment against the PA and PLO in an amount of $116,409,123. (See Estates of Ungar & Ungar ex rel. Strachman v Palestinian Auth., 325 F Supp 2d 15 [D RI 2004], affd sub nom. Ungar v Palestine Liberation Org., 402 F3d 274 [1st Cir 2005], cert denied 546 US 1034 [2005].)

[126]*126In 2005, the federal judgment was domesticated in New York. The federal court issued a restraining order and injunction, and the plaintiffs served information subpoenas and restraining notices pursuant to CPLR 5222 on a number of entities believed to be holding assets of the PA and the PLO. The notices stated that the federal injunction applied to all assets of the PA and the PLO “however titled.” In response to the notice, SASI froze more than $100 million in accounts titled variously as the Palestinian Pension Fund for the State Administrative Employees and the Palestinian Pension Fund for the State Administrative Employees of the Gaza Strip.

On or about December 7, 2005, defendant, the Insurance and Pension Fund (hereinafter referred to as IPF), appeared for the first time and asserted that the names on the account are aliases of the IPF not the PA, and that IPF is an independent entity. IPF moved to vacate the restraining order. The plaintiffs did not respond but instead filed for a turnover proceeding against SASI, and filed a sheriff’s, levy coextensive with the proceeding. The plaintiffs further filed this declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that the assets held by SASI belong to the PA not IPF, and alleging that the PA and the IPF engaged in a fraudulent scheme to prevent the Ungars from enforcing their judgment against the assets frozen by SASI.

In or around March 2006, the court deemed the motion to vacate the restraining notice moot in view of the fact that the plaintiffs had withdrawn it. IPF moved to dismiss the turnover proceeding and the court granted the motion.

Discovery in this declaratory judgment action was completed in February 2007, and the plaintiffs filed a corrected note of issue demanding a trial by jury on all issues. Four months later, on May 30, 2007, defendant Palestinian Pension Fund for the State Administrative Employees of the Gaza Strip (hereinafter referred to as the Gaza Fund) moved to strike the plaintiffs’ demand for a jury trial.

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

Related

Matter of Berisha v. 4042 E. Tremont Café Corp.
220 A.D.3d 608 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2023)
Matter of Murnane Bldg. Contrs., Inc. v. New York State Olympic Regional Dev. Auth.
2021 NY Slip Op 05756 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2021)
Priestley v. Panmedix Inc.
134 A.D.3d 642 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2015)
Salomone v. Abramson
48 Misc. 3d 318 (New York Supreme Court, 2015)
Coventry Group, Inc. v. Gottlieb
2014 Ohio 213 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
Natl. Grid Corporate Servs., LLC v. LeSchack & Grodensky, P.C.
41 Misc. 3d 977 (New York Supreme Court, 2013)
State v. Myron P.
86 A.D.3d 26 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 A.D.3d 124, 901 N.Y.S.2d 582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/strachman-v-palestinian-authority-nyappdiv-2010.