Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands v. Canadian Imperial Bank of

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court for the Southern District of New York (Lewis A. Kaplan, Judge) denying Plaintiff Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (“CNMI”) motion for a turnover order under Rule 69 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and N.Y. CPLR § 5225(b), and granting an injunction pending appeal. After hearing oral argument, we certified to the New York Court of Appeals the following questions:

1. May a court issue a turnover order pursuant to N.Y. CPLR § 5225(b) to an entity that does not have actual possession or custody of a debtor’s assets, but…