MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
KNAPP, District Judge.
Before us is a motion for an order directing Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company ("Manufacturers Hanover") to release certain assets maintained by defendant J. Howard Johnson in an account at one of Manufacturers Hanover's branch offices, which assets were frozen pursuant to a restraining notice served on April 28, 1980, upon Manufacturers Hanover's main office. For reasons set forth in this opinion, the motion is denied.
On November 16, 1979, plaintiff Digitrex, Inc. obtained in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Laredo Division, a judgment of $256,000 together with $20,000 as attorneys' fees against various parties including defendant Johnson. On March 26, 1980, plaintiff, alleging that the Texas judgment had not been paid, entered said judgment with this court, and on April 28 caused the above-mentioned restraining notice to be served upon Manufacturers Hanover's main office. The restraining notice stated that "it appears" that Manufacturers Hanover is "in possession or in custody of property in which the judgment debtor has an interest to wit: any bank account or accounts", and that pursuant to section 5222(b) of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules, the effect of the restraining notice was to forbid Manufacturers Hanover "to make or suffer any sale, assignment or transfer of, or any interference with, any such property" except as provided in CPLR § 5222(b).
Defendant contends that the restraining notice was legally ineffective with regard to his account at the Manufacturers Hanover branch office for two reasons: (1) because "New York case law unequivocally states that a restraining notice must be served upon the particular branch at which the depositor's account is maintained"; and (2) because it failed to specifically identify the account to be frozen. We reject both contentions.
In arguing that in order to be effective, the restraining notice would have had to be served upon the Manufacturers Hanover branch office at which defendant's account was maintained rather than on Manufacturers Hanover's main office, defendant relies primarily on National Shipping & Trading Corp. v. Weeks Stevedoring Company (S.D.N.Y.1966) 252 F.Supp. 275. In that case, Judge Bonsal vacated a writ of foreign attachment of respondent's account on the ground that it had been served on the main office of the Marine Midland Grace Trust Company whereas the respondent had maintained an account only at a branch office of that bank. Judge Bonsal
We believe that this rule is no longer valid. Counsel for Manufacturers Hanover informs us:
We take judicial notice of the fact that the operations at most—if not all—New York City commercial banks, including Manufacturers Hanover, have become largely computerized as described by Manufacturers Hanover's counsel. Consequently it is clear that the argument in favor of the rule set forth in 1950 in Cronan, supra, is no longer persuasive.
We are mindful that a similar argument to the one now made by Manufacturers Hanover in this connection was made before and rejected by the Court of Appeals for this Circuit more than fifteen years ago in Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab v. Sabre Shipping Corporation (2d Cir. 1965) 341 F.2d 50, 53:
We are not aware, however, of a single case within the past fifteen years in which the rule in question has been reaffirmed by any New York appellate court.
We do not believe that the New York courts would today perpetuate an obsolete interpretation of the attachment statute which would, according to the uncontroverted statement of one of New York's leading banks, not only render creditors' remedies less effective but interfere with the orderly business of the very banking institutions the interpretation was originally designed to protect. Believing that New York courts would today act in a sensible fashion, certainly the federal courts should not have to wait until some state court litigant brings a case to appellate attention before doing likewise. Consequently, we hold that service of the restraining notice in the case at bar on Manufacturers Hanover's main office was sufficient and legally effective.
We now turn to defendant's contention that the restraining notice was legally ineffective because it "fail[ed] to satisfy the `specificity' clause of CPLR § 5222(b)." The statute in question contains no such "specificity" requirement. Section 5222(b) provides only in this connection:
This means that a restraining notice may specifically identify the property to be attached, but certainly section 5222(b) cannot be read to require that a judgment debtor know the precise number of a bank account he wishes to have frozen. Nor do the two cases cited by defendant in this connection, Sumitomo Shoji New York, Inc. v. Chemical Bank New York Trust Company (S.Ct. 1st Dep't N.Y.Cty.1965) 47 Misc.2d 741, 263 N.Y.S.2d 354, affirmed (1st Dep't) 25 A.D.2d 499, 267 N.Y.S.2d 477; Walter v. Doe (Civil Ct.N.Y.1978) 93 Misc.2d 286, 402 N.Y.S.2d 723, in any way support his position. Furthermore, we find that the desired object of the restraining notice was adequately described therein to allow Manufacturers Hanover to locate and "freeze" it. Consequently, we must reject as unfounded defendant's contention that the restraining notice was legally ineffective for failure to specifically identify the account to be frozen.
Defendant's motion is accordingly denied.
SO ORDERED.
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