Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Capital, LLC v. Danning, Gill, Diamond & Kollitz

Appellant Danning, Gill, Diamond & Kollitz (DGDK), a law firm, and respondent Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Capital, LLC (Credit Suisse), filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The trial court denied and granted, respectively, DGDK’s and Credit Suisse’s motions. The fundamental question is whether a lien that arises upon service of an order to appear at a judgment debtor examination, referred to by the parties as an “ORAP” lien, applies to funds acquired by DGDK from the judgment debtor (not a party to this appeal) after the ORAP lien came into existence. The trial court concluded that the ORAP lien applied to funds acquired by DGDK and therefore entered judgment for Credit Suisse.

In the trial court, DGDK relied on a certain statutory provision, discussed at length in this opinion, that provides for an exception to the imposition of an ORAP lien. We raised on our own motion the question whether the exception in question is limited to letter of credit transactions, an inquiry that was entirely new to the case. We asked for and received supplemental briefing on this issue. We conclude that the exception in question is limited to letter of credit transactions.…