On September 10, 2007, the Honorable Susan Illston of the Northern District of California granted the motion of judgment-creditor DS Holdings to appoint a post-judgment receiver, who would collect domain names owned by the judgment debtor John Zuccarini and sell those domains at public auction to satisfy the judgment.

Internet attorneys at Kronenberger Rosenfeld represented DS Holdings in this proceeding. Relying on the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, Judge Illston found that Zuccarini’s domain names were located in the Northern District of California, the location of Verisign, the registry for the domain name names at issue. The Court also found that it was appropriate to appoint a receiver, to which the domain names could be transferred, where DS Holdings had shown that, considering the interests of both the judgment creditor and the judgment debtor, the appointment of a receiver was s a reasonable method to obtain the fair and orderly satisfaction of the judgment under California Code of Civil Procedure §708.620.

This decision marks one of the first—if not the first—judicially sanctioned efforts to levy on domain names to enforce a monetary judgment.

Office Depot v. Zuccarini, Case No. 06-80356 (N.D. Cal.) [D.E. No. 30]

Click here to view the Court's order.