United States District Court, W.D. North Carolina, Asheville Division
JOHN R. NEAL and LEA ANNE NEAL, Plaintiffs,
v.
SJEF JANSSEN, Defendant.
ORDER
W.
Carleton Metcalf United States Magistrate Judge
This
matter is before the Court upon Plaintiffs' Motion to
Disburse Property (Doc. 12).
I.
Background
On or
about July 24, 2000, Plaintiffs obtained a judgment against
Defendant in the United States District Court for the Middle
District of Tennessee in the amount of $500, 000, one half
being awarded for compensatory damages and one half for
punitive damage.[1] Plaintiffs registered the judgment (Doc.
1) in this district on August 29, 2018.
The
next day, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Expedited Issuance of
Writ of Execution Without Notice of Exemptions (Doc. 2), in
which they stated, “Plaintiffs are entitled to the
immediate issuance of a Writ of Execution to enforce their
money judgment.”
On
September 5, 2018, the Honorable Dennis Howell, United States
Magistrate Judge, directed the Clerk to issue “a Writ
of Execution for the enforcement of Plaintiffs'
Judgment.” (Doc. 3). That same day, a Writ of Execution
(Doc. 4) was issued which directed the United States Marshal
to satisfy the judgment by demanding payment from the debtor
and out of the personal property of the debtor, and if
sufficient property could not be found, then out of the real
property belonging to the debtor on the day the judgment was
entered on the docket of this Court.
On
September 12, 2018, the United States Marshal filed a Return
of Service (Doc. 9), which indicated that specific property
of Defendant, to wit: “Gucci Sunglasses”, was
levied upon, but not sold.
On
October 4, 2018, Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Disburse
Property (Doc. 10), which Motion was denied without prejudice
by Order dated November 8, 2018. (Doc. 11).
Plaintiffs
subsequently filed the instant motion (Doc. 12), requesting
an order directing the United States Marshal to disburse the
sunglasses directly to Plaintiffs, and crediting $114.00
against the judgment debt.
II.
Discussion
Rule
69(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states:
A money judgment is enforced by a writ of execution, unless
the court directs otherwise. The procedure on execution-and
in proceedings supplementary to and in aid of judgment or
execution-must accord with the procedure of the state where
the court is located, but a federal statute governs to the
extent it applies.
Under
North Carolina law, a judgment that requires the payment of
money or the delivery of real or personal property may be
enforced by execution under Article 28 of the North Carolina
General Statutes. See N.C. G.S. §1-302.
An
execution may be: 1) against the property of the judgment
debtor, 2) against the person of the judgment debtor, or 3)
for the delivery of the possession of ...