On August 23, 2017, Judge Valerie E. Caproni of the Southern District of New York in Frontline Shipping Limited v. Emirates Trading Agency LLC, et al. (1:17-cv-06371) permitted a shipowner from Bermuda to attach at least seventeen bank accounts owned by three overseas companies for a value of more than $12.2 million – the total value of an arbitration award owed to the shipowner. This lawsuit sought to enforce arbitration awards in favor of the Bermudan ship owner that had been granted in a London maritime arbitration tribunal between 2012-2014.
The shipowner argued that the defendants had bank accounts in U.S. Dollars located within District which gave the court the authority to issue a summons for attachment and garnishment proceedings under Rule B.
Subsequently, three of the banks where plaintiff claimed defendants had money filed responses stating that they had no debts to defendants and did not hold defendants’ property including defendants’ money.
Plaintiff dismissed its action against defendants without prejudice before defendants answered on October 12, 2017. However, this court’s order illustrates the reach of Rule B attachment to entities outside of the United States.
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