Opinion ID: 2194805
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Graham-Field's Equitable Indemnity Claim Was Assignable

Text: We have noted on several occasions that, as a general rule, claims are freely assignable. Brandenburger & Davis, Inc. v. Estate of Lewis, 771 A.2d 984, 988 (D.C.2001). In Brandenburger, we recognized the assignment by heirs of a portion of their estate rights and concluded that Brandenburger & Davis, Inc. had standing as the assignee to assert claims in the Probate Division in Superior Court. Brandenburger, supra, 771 A.2d at 985. We took the opportunity in that case to reinforce the prevailing view in this jurisdiction that a plaintiff can bring a claim that has been assigned to him. Id. at 988. This court's preference for free assignability of claims is such that we have held that, unless a contract contains clear, unambiguous language prohibiting an assignment, attempts to restrict the free assignablity of a claim will not be honored. Id. at 988 (internal citation omitted). As our previous decisions have explained, the right to assign is presumed, based upon principles of unhampered transferability of property rights and of business convenience. Antal's Rest., Inc. v. Lumbermen's Mut. Cas. Co., 680 A.2d 1386, 1388 (D.C.1996) (upholding an assignment whereby owner of property where the restaurant was located assigned to the restaurant owners its claim against insurer for remaining fire loss); see also Flack v. Laster, 417 A.2d 393, 399 (D.C. 1980) (recognizing a prospective purchaser's assignment of his interest in a contract to purchase real property); Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Riggs Nat'l Bank, 646 A.2d 966, 972 (D.C.1994) (company assigned to insurer rights it had against the bank for failing to recredit its account after the bank cashed fraudulent checks). In relevant part, D.C.Code § 28-2304 provides that [i]n a general assignment . . . it is not necessary to execute a separate assignment of each chose in action, but the assignee, by virtue of the general assignment, may sue in his own name on the several choses in action included therein. In the instant case, the trial court concluded that D.C.Code § 28-2304 does not address whether an equitable indemnification claim is assignable. We agree that the statute does not by its terms expressly authorize the assignment of equitable indemnity claims. However, we find nothing in the language of this statute that expressly prohibits the assignment of an equitable indemnity claim. Moreover, we have said that the language of D.C.Code § 28-2304 embodies this [jurisdiction's] policy of free assignability of claims. Antal's Rest. Inc., supra, 680 A.2d at 1389.