# Delaware v. Pennsylvania

Note: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
DELAWARE v. PENNSYLVANIA ET AL. ON EXCEPTIONS TO REPORTS OF SPECIAL MASTER No. 145, Orig. Argued October 3, 2022—Decided February 28, 2023
A State may take custody of abandoned property located within its borders; this process is commonly known as “escheatment.” When abandoned property is intangible, however, the lack of a physical location means that multiple States may have arguable claims. In these cases, the question is which States have the right to escheat two financial products sold by banks on behalf of MoneyGram: Agent Checks and Teller’s Checks (collectively, Disputed Instruments). Operating much like money orders, both products are prepaid financial instruments used to transfer funds to a named payee. When these prepaid instruments are not presented for payment within a certain period of time, they are deemed abandoned, and, currently, MoneyGram applies the common-law escheatment practices outlined in Texas v. New Jersey, 379 U. S. 674. There the Court established the rule that the proceeds of abandoned financial products should escheat to the State of the creditor’s last known address, id., at 680–681, or where such records are not kept, to the State in which the company holding the funds is incorporated, id., at 682. Because MoneyGram does not, as a matter of regular business practice, keep records of creditor addresses for the two products at issue in this case, it applies the secondary common-law rule and transmits the abandoned proceeds to its State of incorporation, i.e., Delaware.
Held: The Disputed Instruments are sufficiently “similar” to a money order to fall within the FDA. Pp. 9–23.
(a) The parties disagree whether the Disputed Instruments qualify as “money order[s]” or “other similar written instrument[s] (other than a third party bank check)” under §2503. Because a finding that the Disputed Instruments are similar to money orders would be sufficient to bring the Disputed Instruments within §2503’s reach, the Court need not decide whether they actually are money orders. Instead, the Court concludes that the Disputed Instruments are sufficiently “similar” to money orders so as to fall within the “other similar written instrument” category of the FDA. Pp. 9–16.
(1) The Disputed Instruments share two relevant similarities with money orders. First, they are similar in function and operation. Although the FDA does not define “money order,” a variety of dictionary definitions contemporaneous with the Act’s passage universally define a “money order” as a prepaid financial instrument used to transmit a specified amount of money to a named payee. And this Court’s common-law precedents—the backdrop against which the FDA was enacted—are in accord with that definition. In addition, the features that money orders share with the Disputed Instruments, e.g., the fact that they are prepaid, make them likely to escheat, and thus implicate the FDA in the first place.
(2) Delaware’s contrary arguments are unpersuasive. First, the State contends that “money order” refers to a specific commercial product labeled as such on the instrument and sold to low-income individuals in small amounts. Unable to present a dictionary definition that cabins the term as described, Delaware attempts to highlight the various ways in which the Disputed Instruments differ from money orders. But Delaware never explains how the differences are relevant to the assessment of similarity for FDA purposes or how such differences undermine the similarities previously outlined above.
In an effort to make those proffered differences more relevant, Delaware asserts that the FDA was actually concerned with dissuading States from adopting costly recordkeeping requirements that would then be passed on to consumers. Delaware argues that the Disputed Instruments are unlike money orders in that the consumers of the Disputed Instruments are typically more capable of absorbing the cost of recordkeeping requirements. The text of the FDA, however, does not support this argument.
Finally, Delaware’s suggestion that §2503 be read narrowly to avoid creating surplusage and sweeping in all sorts of unintended financial products goes too far. While there is some merit to Delaware’s concern about a broad definition of “money order,” this Court need not actually define that term, as it suffices under the FDA that the instruments in question be “similar” to a money order. Pp. 14–16.
Exceptions to Special Master’s First Interim Report overruled; First Interim Report and order adopted to the extent consistent with this opinion; and cases remanded.
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