Sturcke v. Link

176 Misc. 93, 26 N.Y.S.2d 748, 1941 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1630
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 24, 1941
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 176 Misc. 93 (Sturcke v. Link) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sturcke v. Link, 176 Misc. 93, 26 N.Y.S.2d 748, 1941 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1630 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1941).

Opinion

Shientag, J.

This is a motion by the defendant, a non-resident of this State, to vacate the warrant of attachment and levy made thereunder, and to set aside the default judgment entered herein after service on the defendant by publication.

Plaintiff sued the defendant for a breach of contract and commenced the action by an attachment and service on the defendant by publication. The defendant has not appeared personally. The warrant of attachment was leviéd on property in this jurisdiction, constituting the defendant’s interest in his deceased brother’s estate. The sheriff made this levy by serving a certified copy of the warrant on the trustee of this estate on September 25, 1940. On October 17, 1940, the trustee filed a certified copy of a schedule with the sheriff pursuant to section 918 of the Civil Practice Act listing the assets held by the trustee for the account of the defendant. On December 31, 1940, ninety-nine days after the levy, a default judgment was entered awarding the plaintiff a money judgment.

The defendant argues that the attachment herein must be declared void because subdivision 2 of section 922 of the Civil Practice Act was not complied with in any of the following respects :

(1) The sheriff did not take actual possession or obtain an assignment of the attached property within ninety days of the service of the warrant;

(2) Neither the sheriff nor the plaintiff jointly or severally has commenced any action or proceeding to obtain custody, payment or an assignment of the attached, property within ninety days of the service of the warrant;

(3) The plaintiff has not applied to the court for any extension of this ninety-day period.

The defendant alleges that the attached property is capable of manual delivery and thus is clearly governed by subdivision 2 of section 922. The defendant also urges that no money judgment can be entered by a court in an action in rem, and, therefore, that the money judgment entered herein must be vacated for this additional reason.

[95]*95The plaintiff concedes the facts to be as alleged by the defendant except that the plaintiff denies that the attached property is capable of manual delivery. However, the plaintiff contends that subdivision 2 of section 922 in no way governs the attachment involved herein for two reasons: First, the plaintiff argues that there is no time limitation applicable to the attachment of an interest in an estate because of subdivision 5 of section 916, which provides that the levy itself upon such an interest shall constitute a seizure and attachment ” of the interest. Second, the plaintiff argues that the right of the sheriff to bring an action where the summons was served by publication is not limited by subdivision 2 of section 922 but is governed by subdivision 3 of section 922, which latter subdivision contains no time limitation of any sort. In addition, the plaintiff urges that a money judgment can be entered by a court in an action in rem.

This is the first case involving an interpretation of the new amendments to the Civil Practice Act relating to attachments, which amendments became effective September 1, 1940 (Laws of 1940, chap. 625). These amendments were intended to abolish certain unjust rules which applied to the attachment of property (see, for example, Anthony v. Wood, 96 N. Y. 180), and provide a simple, uniform and safe method of levying attachments, protecting adverse claims to the attached property by third parties, and safeguarding attachment garnishees. (Association of the Bar of the City of N. Y., Bulletin of Committee on State Legislation, p. 197, Feb. 27, 1940; “ The Streamlining of Attachment Procedure,” by Prof. John F. X. Finn, 9 Fordham Law Rev. pp. 1, 2, Jan. 1940.) The amendments must be interpreted with these purposes in mind.

There can be no question that the sheriff made a valid levy upon the defendant’s interest in his deceased brother’s estate by leaving a certified copy of the warrant * * * with the executor or trustee under the will.” (Civ. Prac. Act, § 917, subd. 2.) It is the effect and duration of such a levy that are now in dispute.

Subdivision 2 of section 922 of the Civil Practice Act provides as follows: “ In the event that within ninety days from the issuance of the warrant, unless the time has been extended as herein provided, and in that event prior to the expiration of the time as so extended, the sheriff has not taken into his actual custody all such property capable of manual delivery, or has not received payment of, or an assignment evidencing the right of, the sheriff to collect and to enforce the debts, effects or things in action attached, and if no action or special proceeding for that purpose has then been commenced by the sheriff or by the plaintiff jointly with the sheriff [96]*96as herein or hereinafter authorized, the levy shall be void as to any such personal property not so reduced to the sheriff’s custody, paid, collected or assigned to him as to which no such action or special proceeding is pending, and after the expiration of such time the sheriff shall have no right thereunder to take into his actual custody any such property capable of manual delivery, or to collect or receive any such debts, effects or things in action, nor shall the sheriff or the sheriff and plaintiff jointly, have any right to commence an action or special proceeding thereunder to secure or collect the same.”

Of course if the defendant’s contention were correct, that the property herein attached consists entirely of property that is capable of manual delivery, then clearly the ninety-day limitation of subdivision 2 of section 922 of the Civil Practice Act would apply. However, I shall proceed on the assumption that at least part of defendant’s interest herein attached consists of an interest in an undistributed and unliquidated estate and, therefore, that at least part of the property attached is not capable of manual delivery. (See Backus v. Kimball, 62 Hun, 122.)

The plaintiff first argues that the duration and effect of the levy made by the sheriff are governed by subdivision 5 of section 916 of the Civil Practice Act (originally section 648 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended by chapter 416 of the Laws of 1877), which subdivision refers specifically to an interest in an estate. This subdivision provides in part: The levy of the attachment thereupon is deemed a levy upon, and a seizure and attachment of the rights and interest of the defendant at the time of such levy.” (Italics mine.) From this the plaintiff concludes that “ seizure and attachment ” mean physical possession, and that consequently the sheriff actually takes an interest in an estate into his possession and custody upon service of the warrant on the executor or trustee under the decedent’s will. Therefore, the plaintiff urges that the ninety-day limitation contained in subdivision 2 of section 922 of the Civil Practice Act was not intended to apply to a defendant’s interest in an estate because in the eyes of the law the sheriff already has such an interest in his possession from the time of the levy.

I do not believe that subdivision 5 of section 916 can be given the significance assigned to it by the plaintiff. To begin with, section 916 itself is headed “ Debt or evidence thereof; cause of action on contract, debt; claim to estate or trust fund; subject to attachment,” and the section begins: “ The attachment may also be levied upon:” after which follow six subdivisions of which No.

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Bluebook (online)
176 Misc. 93, 26 N.Y.S.2d 748, 1941 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sturcke-v-link-nysupct-1941.