ENFORCMENT OF JUDGMENTS IN NEW YORK - NEW DEVELOPMENT

If you receive a judgment against you in New York, of course your assets located in New York may be subject to attachment, subject to the exemptions contained in CPLR article 52. But what about your assets that are located outside of New York - lets say in Florida? Normally, the judgment creditor would have to hire a Florida attorney, convert the New York judgment to a Florida judgment, and then go after the Florida asset. But on June 4, 2009, in Koehler v. Bank of Bermuda, 2009 NY Slip Op 4297 (June 4, 2009), the New York Court of Appeals held that “a court sitting in New York may order a bank over which it has personal jurisdiction to deliver stock certificates owned by a judgment debtor (or cash equivalent to their value) to a judgment creditor, pursuant to CPLR article 52, when those stock certificates are located outside of New York.” Thus, unless reversed, at least banks that are subject to personal jurisdiction in New York may be compelled to bring to New York and turn over assets from anywhere in the world belonging to any of their depositors who become judgment debtors. And other lower courts may hold that, pursuant to that decision, any non-New York organization or individual subject to personal jurisdiction in New York (you don't have to be in New York to be subject to New York jurisdiction as we have "long arm jurisdiction" to be discussed later) may be compelled to turn assets belonging to New York judgment debtors.