Sabeniano v. Citibank, N.A. New York
- Alison Nathan
- 1:16-cv-01723-AJN
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Sabeniano v. Citibank, Judge Nathan denied a request to enforce a Philippine judgment and refused to consider further enforcement motions.
Modesta R. Sabeniano's request to enforce a Philippine judgment against Citibank, N.A., New York, and the other defendants was denied; the court also would not consider new enforcement motions.
What happened
In Sabeniano v. Citibank, N.A., New York, Modesta R. Sabeniano, who represented herself, asked the court to enforce a judgment from the Philippines against Citibank and other defendants.
The court had previously barred her from filing motions or starting actions against the defendants to enforce that judgment unless she first received permission to file. It had also denied similar requests.
Judge Alison J. Nathan denied the present request for the reasons given in the earlier orders and ordered that the court would not consider new motions to enforce the judgment. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
The detailed version
- Sabeniano v. Citibank, N.A. New York · No. 1:16-cv-01723-AJN
- Alison Nathan
- Jan. 14, 2021
Background
Modesta R. Sabeniano, proceeding without a lawyer, sent the court a letter asking it to enforce what she described as a judgment from the Philippines against Citibank, N.A., New York, and other defendants. The letter requested an order requiring payment of $19,100,505.04. The opinion does not decide whether that amount was owed or whether the foreign judgment was enforceable.
The court stated that it had previously warned Sabeniano that additional frivolous or vexatious filings could lead to a filing injunction. In an earlier order, the court granted the defendants' request for such an injunction and barred Sabeniano from filing motions or starting an action against the defendants to enforce any judgment from the Philippines without first obtaining the court's permission to file. The court also described later motions for reconsideration that it had denied.
Ruling
The court construed Sabeniano's letter as a request to enforce a foreign judgment and denied the request for the reasons stated in its November 19, 2020 and December 8, 2020 orders. The court ordered that it would not consider any new motions to enforce the judgment. It directed the clerk to mail the order to Sabeniano and record that mailing on the public docket. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3), the court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. Judge Alison J. Nathan signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.