AGO 1991-025.

• Case Date: July 29, 1991
• Court: Connecticut

Connecticut Attorney General Opinions 1991. AGO 1991-025. July 29, 1991Opinion No. 1991-025Honorable Emil H. FrankelCommissionerDepartment of Transportation24 Wolcott Hill RoadWethersfield, CT 06109 Dear Commissioner Frankel: By letter dated July 19, 1991, you state that a company called Hartford Paving Inc. ("Hartford Paving" ) has been performing bridge painting work for the Department of Transportation ("DOT") pursuant to purchase orders issued to it by the DOT in accordance with Contract Award No. 890-A-13-1054-C. You further state that you have been informed that Hartford Paving's certificate of registration under the Home Improvement Act, Conn. Gen. Stat. §20-418 et seq., was revoked by the Department of Consumer Protection and that Hartford Paving was ordered to pay approximately $49,000 in restitution to its customers but that it has failed to do so. In view of the fact that the DOT is processing payments to Hartford Paving in excess of $49,000 for work it has done on various DOT bridge projects, you have asked our opinion as to whether the Department of Consumer Protection has a right to attach or garnish these funds. For the reasons that follow, it is our opinion that these funds are not subject to attachment or garnishment. In general, the terms "attachment" and "garnishment" refer to prejudgment and postjudgment remedies available to parties in court actions. "An attachment of property on mesne process is a mode of obtaining security for the satisfaction of any judgment which the plaintiff may finally recover..." Atlas Garage & custom Builders, Inc. v. Hurley, 167 Conn. 248, 251, 355 A.2d 286 (1980), quoting from Morgan v. New York National Bldg. & Loan Assn., 73 Conn. 151, 46 A. 877 (1900). Garnishment is a form of attachment looking to the impounding of funds due a defendant. "However, attachment and garnishment differ in character in t hat attachment is directed against property of the principal defendant which is in his possession or under his control, while the object of garnishment is to reach an indebtedness due to the principal defendant by a third person, or property in the possession or control of a third person which belongs to the principal defendant." 7 C.J.S. Attachment §2. p. 227.

"The remedy of attaching and securing a defendant's property to satisfy a judgment which the plaintiff may recover is

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