USC Chapter 173

in effect

28 U.S.C. § 2710 Right of attachment

(a) Where debts are due from a defaulting or delinquent postmaster, contractor, or other officer, agent or employee of the Post Office Department, a warrant of attachment may issue against all property and legal and equitable rights belonging to him, and his sureties, or either of them, where he—(1) is a nonresident of the district where he was appointed, or has departed from that district for the purpose of permanently residing outside thereof, or of avoiding the service of civil process; and (2) has conveyed away, or is about to convey away any of his property, or has removed or is about to remove the same from the district wherein it is situated, with intent to defraud the United States. (b) When the property has been removed, the marshal of the district into which it has been removed, upon receipt of certified copies of the warrant, may seize the property and convey it to a convenient place within the jurisdiction of the court which issued the warrant. Alias warrants may be issued upon due application. The warrant first issued remains valid until the return day thereof.

28 U.S.C. § 2711 Application for warrant

A United States attorney or assistant United States attorney or a person authorized by the Attorney General— (1) upon his own affidavit or that of another credible person, stating the existence of either of the grounds of attachments enumerated in section 2710 of this title and (2) upon production of legal evidence of the debt may apply for a warrant of attachment to a judge, or, in his absence, to the clerk of any court of the United States having original jurisdiction of the cause of action.

28 U.S.C. § 2712 Issue of warrant

Upon an order of a judge of a court, or, in his absence and upon the clerk’s own initiative, the clerk shall issue a warrant for the attachment of the property belonging to the person specified in the affidavit. The marshal shall execute the warrant forthwith and take the property attached, if personal, in his custody, subject to the interlocutory or final orders of the court.

28 U.S.C. § 2713 Trial of ownership of property

Not later than twenty days before the return day of a warrant issued under section 2712 of this title, the party whose property is attached, on notice to the United States Attorney, may file a plea in abatement, denying the allegations of the affidavit, or denying ownership in the defendant of the property attached. The court, upon application of either party, shall order a trial by jury of the issues. Where the parties, by consent, waive a trial by jury, the court shall decide the issues. A party claiming ownership of the property attached and seeking its return is limited to the remedy afforded by this section, but his right to an action of trespass, or other action for damages, is not impaired.

28 U.S.C. § 2714 Investment of proceeds of attached property

When the property attached is sold on an interlocutory order or is producing revenue, the money arising from the sale or revenue shall be invested, under the order of the court, in securities of the United States. The accretions therefrom are subject to the order of the court.

28 U.S.C. § 2715 Publication

The marshal shall cause publication of an executed warrant of attachment— (1) for two months in case of an absconding debtor, and (2) for four months in case of a nonresident debtor in a newspaper published in the district where the property is situated pursuant to the details of the order under which the warrant is issued.

28 U.S.C. § 2716 Personal notice

After the first publication of the notice of attachment, a person indebted to, or having possession of property of a defendant and having knowledge of the notice, shall answer for the amount of his debt or the value of the property. Any disposal or attempted disposal of the property, to the injury of the United States, is unlawful. When the person indebted to, or having possession of the property of a defendant, is known to the United States attorney or marshal, the officer shall cause a personal notice of the attachment to be served upon him, but the lack of the notice does not invalidate the attachment.

28 U.S.C. § 2717 Discharge

The court, or a judge thereof, upon— (1) application of the party when property has been attached and (2) execution to the United States of a penal bond, approved by a judge, in double the value of the property attached and conditioned upon the return of the property or the payment of any judgment rendered by the court may discharge the warrant of attachment as to the property of the applicant.

28 U.S.C. § 2718 Interest on balances due department

In suits for balances due the Post Office Department may recover interest at the rate of 6 per centum per year from the time of default.