Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Defendant Gives Court Power to Garnish Intangible Asset Outside Jurisdiction

Posted by: Ted Schmidt, Dev Sethi, Matthew Schmidt and Burt Kinerk Civil Procedure - Personal Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Permits Garnishment of Asset Outside Jurisdiction
Ellsworth Land & Livestock Inc., v. Bush, 585 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 45 (App., Div. *I, June 22, 2010) (J. Orozco)

WHERE COURT HAS PERSONAL JURISDICTION OVER NONRESIDENT DEFENDANT IT MAY ISSUE GARNISHMENT ORDER ON ANNUITY PAYMENTS ORIGINATING OUTSIDE JURISDICTION

The Plaintiff obtained a judgment against the defendant and then garnished annuity payments being paid the defendant by a Canadian Insurance Company. Because the payments were made to the defendant in Arizona and the defendant was an Arizona resident when the annuity agreement was executed the Arizona court had personal jurisdiction over the Canadian company. The defendant objected to the garnishment claiming the court had no jurisdiction over the annuity funds which originated in Canada and therefore could not garnish these out of state assets. The Court of Appeals disagreed holding that as long as the court has general and specific jurisdiction over the party it has jurisdiction to garnish its assets even if those assets are outside the jurisdiction. The location of the intangible res is irrelevant.