Watts v. Swiss Bank Corp., MEYER-LANARI and E

• Court: New York Supreme Court Appellate Division
• Writing for the Court: Before CAPOZZOLI; McNALLY; All concur except CAPOZZOLI
• Citation: 33 A.D.2d 102,305 N.Y.S.2d 233
• Parties: Sewell S. WATTS, Jr., and I. Manning Parsons, Jr., as Executors of the Estate of Roberta Maccoun Lanari, deceased, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. SWISS BANK CORPORATION, Defendant. SWISS BANK CORPORATION, Defendant and Interpleading Plaintiff, v. Maria Elenadwin L. Gasperini, Ancillary Administrator withthe Will Annexed of the Eatate of Aristide Lanari, deceased, InterpleadedDefendants-Appellants.
• Docket Number: MEYER-LANARI and E
• Decision Date: 25 November 1969

Page 233

305 N.Y.S.2d 233 33 A.D.2d 102 Sewell S. WATTS, Jr., and I. Manning Parsons, Jr., as
Executors of the Estate of Roberta Maccoun Lanari,
deceased, Plaintiffs-Respondents,
v.
SWISS BANK CORPORATION, Defendant.
SWISS BANK CORPORATION, Defendant and Interpleading Plaintiff,
v.
Maria Elena MEYER-LANARI and Edwin L. Gasperini, Ancillary
Administrator withthe Will Annexed of the Eatate
of Aristide Lanari, deceased,
InterpleadedDefendants-Appellants. Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department. Nov. 25, 1969.

Page 234

Bernard J. Reverdin, New York City, of counsel (Lovejoy, Wasson, Lundgren & Ashton, New York City, attorneys) for appellants.

Gerald J. Dunworth, New York City, of counsel (Mark D. Lebow, New York City, on the brief; Coudert Brothers, New York City, attorneys) for respondents.

Before CAPOZZOLI, J.P., and TILZER, MARKEWICH, NUNEZ, and McNALLY, JJ.

McNALLY, Justice.

This appeal involves a dispute over the ownership of assets in an account held at the New York office of defendant and interpleading plaintiff, Swiss Bank Corporation. Plaintiffs-respondents claim title through the deceased second wife of decedent, Aristide Lanari. Interpleaded defendants-appellants claim title since one of them is the daughter of the decedent. This is an appeal from a judgment rendered after trial to the court, entered June 27, 1969, in which the court refused to grant comity to a French judgment and held that the account was a survivorship account. Some aspects of this case have been here previously (24 A.D.2d 849, 264 N.Y.S.2d 667; 30 A.D.2d 791, 292 N.Y.S. 205, 602, cases #3 and 4).

[33 A.D.2d 103] The record discloses the following facts:

The account was opened by Aristide Lanari and his wife Roberta on November 18, 1960. Aristide died on September 8, 1961 domiciled in La Turbie, France, leaving a will dated January 22, 1959, executed in Monte Carlo. He was survived by his second wife, Roberta, and a daughter of his first marriage, the interpleaded defendant Maria Elena Meyer-Lanari.

Aristide Lanari and his second wife, Roberta, maintained a joint survivorship account with Swiss Bank Corporation in New York City. In

Page 235

March 1962, after the death of Aristide, his only child Maria, who was his daughter by his first wife, brought suit against Roberta in France. The purpose of the suit was to enforce in Maria's favor the so-called Forced Heirship Laws of France which at the time entitled her to three-fourths of her father's estate. Roberta appeared in the suit on June 7, 1962. Two days later she died, leaving as heirs three sisters to whom she bequeathed her entire estate except for legacies of insufficient significance. The sisters were substituted for Roberta in the French action. They defended it and it proceeded to a decision in favor of Maria, which on appeal to the Court of Appeals of Aix-en-Provence by the sisters was sustained. The French courts determined that Lanari was domiciled in France, that the law of France whas applicable with respect to his personal property wherever located, that the assets in the joint account were constituted from his personal assets, that the creation of the account was void with respect to Maria.

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