BILL NUMBER: S7468
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the New York city civil court act, the uniform city
court act, the uniform district court act and the uniform justice court
act, in relation to expanding the available jurisdiction for issuing
information subpoenas
 
PURPOSE OF BILL:
Allows small claims court personnel to issue information subpoenas on
judgment creditors outside of the county and adjoining counties of the
court.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections 1 through 4 amend the NYC Civil Court Act, the Uniform City
Court Act, the Uniform District Court Act, and the Uniform Justice Court
Act to allow the court to issue information subpoenas on behalf of judg-
ment creditors outside of the county and adjoining counties of the
court.
Section 5 is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Under section 1201 of the various court acts, information subpoenas
sought by small claims court judgment creditors can only be served in
the county where the litigation took place or an adjoining county,
except upon motion. This requirement adds to the burdens of judgment
creditors trying to locate a judgment debtor's assets. In many
instances, judgment debtors will take evasive action to move their
assets to avoid detection. Accordingly, it is important for judgment
creditors to proceed as efficiently and swiftly as possible to gain
information useful in the collection process.
This bill amends the relevant court acts to have court personnel to
issue information subpoenas on behalf of Small Claims judgment creditors
effective beyond the jurisdictional boundaries and adjoining counties as
limited by section 1201 of the court acts. As judgment creditors in
Small Claims are largely pro se litigants who are attempting the diffi-
cult process of locating assets without the assistance of an attorney,
they should be permitted to direct information subpoenas to parties they
believe may have information useful to identifying the judgment credi-
tor's assets regardless of location within the United States. This would
eliminate the need to make a motion to serve an information subpoena
outside the county where the court is located and counties adjoining
that county.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S6887A (Hoylman-Sigal): Died on third reading
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.