Opinion ID: 41378
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Washington Levy

Text: 38 Under Washington state law, when a judgment creditor seeks to obtain a judgment debtor's property from a bank as garnishee, there must be a specific proceeding in which a writ of garnishment is directed to the bank. Wash. Rev. Cod. Ann. §§ 6.27.20-6.27.370 passim (West 1995); see also Yakima Adjustment Serv., Inc. v. Durand, 28 Wash.App. 180, 622 P.2d 408, 412 (1981) ([U]pon being served with a writ of garnishment the garnishee must answer and disclose what funds, if any, he holds that are due or owing to a defendant. He must serve the answer on a defendant, [Wash. Rev. Cod. §§ 6.27.110, 6.27.190], who may thereafter controvert it by way of affidavit. The issue is thus formed and the matter then tried.). 39 While a garnishment is an in rem proceeding that places property in custodia legis, the garnishment provisions are separate and distinct from the provisions for writ of execution and levy. U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co. v. Hollenshead, 51 Wash. 326, 98 P. 749, 750 (1909). Compare Wash. Rev. Cod. Ann. § 6.17.160(7) (West 1995) (Other intangible personal property may be levied on by serving a copy of the writ on, or mailing it to, the judgment debtor in the manner as required by RCW 6.17.130, together with a description of the property.); Wash. Rev. Cod. Ann. § 6.27.080 (West 1995) (A writ of garnishment is effective against property in the possession or control of a financial institution only if the writ of garnishment is directed to and names a branch as garnishee defendant.). Thus, the Ungars' Washington levy could have been valid if it were in execution of a judgment rendered in a garnishment proceeding. Nothing in the record shows that the Ungars served a writ of garnishment upon the Washington bank. The record reveals nothing about garnishment proceeding, or a judgment (or execution/levy thereof) that resulted from such a proceeding. Accordingly, there appears to have been no bar to the Texas district court's jurisdiction to enter the restraining order as to the HLF bank accounts in Washington.