T & C Leasing, Inc. v. Wachovia Bank

23 A.3d 440, 421 N.J. Super. 221, 2011 N.J. Super. LEXIS 126
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJuly 8, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 23 A.3d 440 (T & C Leasing, Inc. v. Wachovia Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
T & C Leasing, Inc. v. Wachovia Bank, 23 A.3d 440, 421 N.J. Super. 221, 2011 N.J. Super. LEXIS 126 (N.J. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

AXELRAD, P.J.A.D.

At issue in this appeal is whether a post-judgment bank account levy creates an ongoing restraint in the creditor’s favor under Article 7 of the State’s execution statutes, N.J.S.A. 2A:17-50 to - 56.66, requiring the bank to turn over to the creditor funds deposited into the debtor’s account after service of the writ on the bank. The trial court held the bank had no such continuing obligation. We affirm.

The facts are undisputed. In September 2008, plaintiff T & C Leasing, Inc. (T & C) obtained a default judgment against International Entrees Corporation (IEC) and Frederick W. Braman, III (collectively the debtors) in the amount of $75,783.52. On October 6, 2008, T & C secured a writ of execution, containing a rider directing the Camden County Sheriff to levy first on personal property belonging to the debtors. Pursuant to the rider, the [224]*224sheriff was directed to levy upon a variety of items of personalty, including “[a]ny and all bank accounts titled to or held by [the debtors], individually or collectively, at any bank or other financial institutions in your county----”

An April 21, 2009 sheriffs affidavit reported the levy had been successfully served on April 20 on a local branch of defendant, Wachovia Bank (Wachovia), and $1,890.82 in funds contained in the IEC bank account were available to the creditor.2 The affidavit, in part, also contained the following computer-generated statement: “I hereby levy upon: any and all bank accounts, including CD’s and any other monies due or to become due ... as of 4/15/2009, $82,752.02 including judgment, costs, interest, and sheriffs fees.”

On April 29, 2009, the sheriff sent a notice to the debtors, with a copy to T & C pursuant to Rule 4:59-1(g). The notice stated that $1,890.82 had been levied upon at the bank at the instruction of T & C but the funds would not be taken from the account until ordered by the court.

On December 18, 2009, T & C obtained an order for turnover of funds directing Wachovia to pay the sheriff the $1,890.82 held in the IEC account pursuant to the writ of execution in partial satisfaction of the judgment. Wachovia did so on December 24, 2009.

T & C subsequently learned that $80,982.73 had been deposited into the IEC bank account from April 22 to May 29, 2009. It also ascertained that Braman had issued checks from this account payable to himself, cash, and others during this period.

On December 23, 2009, T & C filed suit against Wachovia, claiming it failed to honor the levy in violation of the execution statutes as it paid to the debtor or on its behalf funds subsequently deposited into the account. T & C sought a judgment pursuant [225]*225to N.J.S.A. 2A:17-54 for the amount paid out by the bank in excess of the levy. T & C filed an answer.

On March 1,2010, T & C moved for summary judgment. T & C posited that the execution had continuing effect and Wachovia was required to turn over any additional funds deposited into the account after the writ of execution was served until the underlying judgment was satisfied. T & C relied on N.J.S.A. 2A:17-50, authorizing execution against “wages, debts, earnings, salary, income from trust funds, or profits” that are “due and owing to the judgment debtor, or thereafter become due and owing to him ...” and N.J.S.A. 2A:17-51, stating that an execution on these items “shall become a lien and a continuing levy ... to the amount specified therein.”

Wachovia filed a cross-motion seeking dismissal of the complaint, taking the position the execution was governed instead by N.J.S.A. 2A:17-15, which provides that “[m]oney belonging to a defendant in execution may be levied on and returned by virtue of an execution as so much money collected, without exposing the same to sale.” Accordingly, Wachovia asserted it had no obligation to turn over to the creditor any funds moving through the IEC bank account after the date of service of the writ. The bank officer certified:

Wachovia did not place any continuing restraint against the IEC account (other than the restraint against the sum of $1,890.82 ...) or any restraint against the funds subsequently deposited into the IEC Account following the Sheriffs levy against the Account, as the Execution did not provide for any continuing hen against the Account, nor was Wachovia served with any further writs of execution or orders that would provide for a continuing lien or other restraint against the IEC Account. Bhirther, the Bank’s procedures for the handling of executions and levies against customer bank accounts served and issued from the Courts of New Jersey, such as the Execution served upon Wachovia herein, is to restrain and segregate the funds on deposit in the account at the time an execution and levy is served, but not continually to restrain the account (absent any further order of the Court), as such execution and levies do not constitute continuing hens, nor provide any basis to further restrain the bank account.

Following oral argument on June 25, 2010, the court accepted Wachovia’s argument, concluding the funds in a bank account appeared to be “a sum of money that exists at a finite moment in [226]*226time and would be subject to levy under [N.J.S.A.] 2A:17-15,” and which was “a particular return of money that [T & C] received.” The court reasoned that the reference in the sheriffs return of service to “due or to become due” applied to documents such as CDs or other time-deposit accounts that have an inchoate value. The court further noted there was no language in the original documentation that would have alerted the parties to interpret the writ “as the equivalent of a levy upon wages and the like,” such as an instruction to the sheriff to conduct a continuing levy and notice to Wachovia of same. Nor was there any inquiry by T & C during the eight months between the notice of levy and the turnover order that would have placed Wachovia on notice of a contemplated continuing levy. The ruling was memorialized in orders dated June 28, 2010, granting Wachovia’s motion and denying T & C’s motion. This appeal ensued.

T & C renews its argument on appeal, contending the court erred in concluding the levy on the bank account was a levy on “money” pursuant to N.J.S.A 2A:17-15. T & C submits the funds in a bank account are more properly characterized as a “debt” owed by the bank to the depositor under N.J.S.A. 2A:17-50 and, as such, the Wachovia account is subject to a continuing levy until the judgment is satisfied.

When reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we employ the same standards used by the motion judge under Rule 4:46. Prudential Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Boylan, 307 N.J.Super. 162, 167, 704 A.2d 597 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 154 N.J. 608, 713 A.2d 499 (1998). As neither party argues there are any genuine issues of material fact — both parties having moved for summary judgment — the issue is thus whether the motion judge’s application of the law was correct. Atl. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Hillside Bottling Co., 387 N.J.Super. 224, 230-31, 903 A.2d 513

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 A.3d 440, 421 N.J. Super. 221, 2011 N.J. Super. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/t-c-leasing-inc-v-wachovia-bank-njsuperctappdiv-2011.