Justice L. Priscilla Hall
In 2008 a Florida court issued a mortgage foreclosure judgment against Ehrler. Distressed Holdings LLC (DH) bought the property at a foreclosure sale. In 2010, DH obtained an amended final deficiency judgment (Florida judgment) against Ehrler and others for $188,867. It brought suit against Ehrler by filing the Florida judgment with the county clerk. Pursuant to Civil Practice Law and Rules 5222-a—part of the Exempt Income Protection Act—judgment creditor DH’s lawyer properly sent an information subpoena with restraining notice to Ehrler’s bank (Bank of America). However, because Bank of America (BoA) did not timely send the documents to Ehrler, her account was restrained absent notice to her or any opportunity to claim that certain funds in the account were exempt from debt collection. Supreme Court denied Ehrler vacatur of the restraining notice and termination of the restraint on her account. Second Department held that the restraint of Ehrler’s BoA account violated her due process rights. Similar to Deary v. Guardian Loan, absent notice of the restraint on her account and the procedures for asserting possible exemptions, Ehrler was, as a practical matter, unable to assert her rights before her property was taken.
