Opinion ID: 438944
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statutory Filing Requirements.

Text: 33 A receiver achieves jurisdiction and control of property in districts other than that of appointment by filing copies of the complaint and order of appointment in the district court where the property is located. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 754. The Receiver did not file these documents in the Southern District of Texas, which encompasses Houston, where Tenneco claims that it held the funds in question. Tenneco argues that the Receiver, not having complied with Sec. 754, lacked statutory jurisdiction over the claimed funds, so that the funds could not qualify as receivership assets that the district court could proceed summarily to protect. 34 When there is no other basis of jurisdiction, a receiver appointed in one district must file under Sec. 754 to attain jurisdiction over property in other districts. See S.E.C. v. Equity Service Co., 3 Cir., 1980, 632 F.2d 1092, 1095 (allowing a receiver to reassume jurisdiction after a late Sec. 754 filing, when there was no prejudice to other claimants). In this case, however, three factors weigh against applying Sec. 754 preemptively. 35 First, Tenneco had actual notice of the complaint and the appointment. It was served with the order appointing the Receiver [R. 210 at 5], and was notified of and participated in various receivership proceedings before the Arizona district court [R. 354 at 5]. To the extent that the purpose of Sec. 754 is to provide notice, see S.E.C. v. Equity Service Co., 632 F.2d at 1095, Tenneco had more notice than a Sec. 754 filing would have provided. Tenneco claims no prejudice and we can imagine none under the circumstances. 36 Second, as Tenneco concedes [Brief at 23-24], the district court had personal jurisdiction over Tenneco. If the Receiver had filed a plenary action against Tenneco to recover the funds, the district court for the District of Arizona would have had subject matter jurisdiction ancillary to the main action and personal jurisdiction over Tenneco as an active and continuing participant in the receivership proceedings. See Haile v. Henderson National Bank, 9 Cir., 1981, 657 F.2d 816, 822; United States v. Franklin National Bank, 2 Cir., 1975, 512 F.2d 245, 249; Tcherepnin v. Franz, 7 Cir., 1973, 485 F.2d 1251, 1255-56. Failure to file under Sec. 754 would not have divested the court of existing jurisdiction. See Franklin National Bank, 512 F.2d at 249. The order to show cause and the subsequent order to repay the funds were in personam decrees directed to Tenneco, over which the court clearly had jurisdiction. 37 Third, the intangible nature of the property in question favors a pragmatic view of the Sec. 754 requirement. Although its historical predecessors covered only physical property, Sec. 754 has been said to cover all types of property, including money. See Revisers' Note to 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 754; 7 J. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice p 66.08 at 1948-50 (2d ed. 1972 rev.). But where the property is essentially in the form of a monetary credit, held by a party over whom the court already has jurisdiction, who has actual notice of the receivership and has previously appeared in the receivership court, there is no purpose served in requiring the Receiver to trace the funds to Houston and make a Sec. 754 filing there. The functions served by a Sec. 754 filing where property, such as a parcel of land or tangible personal property, is located in a particular district, or where the possessor of the property is not otherwise aware of the receivership, do not apply here. 38 In these circumstances and where, as we have already held, summary proceedings are otherwise proper, the lack of a Sec. 754 filing in the Southern District of Texas does not bar the district court from proceeding summarily to determine whether Tenneco's setoffs against receivership funds were legal and to order refund of the setoff amounts. 39 The judgment is affirmed.