1218. Special provisions relating to actions or special proceedingsagainst foreign corporations.
(a) In any action or special proceeding brought against a foreign corporation under this article, the following provisions shall apply:
(1) Service of the summons in such action may be made personally within the state of New York, by delivery of the same to any officer or director of the corporation, or by publication pursuant to an order obtained as hereinafter provided.
(2) An order directing service by publication of the summons shall be made upon application of a plaintiff in any such action and shall be founded upon a verified complaint, alleging that the defendant is a foreign corporation and has or may have or may be entitled to assets, credits, choses in action or other property, tangible or intangible within the state and that such corporation has been dissolved, nationalized or that its authority or existence has been terminated or cancelled in the jurisdiction of its incorporation, or that it has ceased to do business, and upon an affidavit reciting that personal service of the summons cannot be effected within the state with due diligence and that a temporary receiver of its property within the state of New York has been appointed pursuant to this article in such action and that a copy of the order appointing the receiver has been served personally by or on behalf of such receiver upon a person, firm or corporation holding property, tangible or intangible, of the said foreign corporation, or against whom a claim or demand in favor of such foreign corporation exists and that demand therefor has been made upon such person, firm or corporation by or on behalf of such receiver.
(3) The order directing service of the summons shall require the publication thereof in a newspaper published in the state of New York in the English language at least once a week for four successive weeks, and shall also require the mailing on or before the date of the first publication of a copy of the summons, complaint and order to the corporation at its last known principal or head office in the state or country of its incorporation.
(4) In any such action, the summons shall be served personally or an order directing service thereof by publication shall be obtained and the first publication thereof made within sixty days after the appointment of the temporary receiver, and if served by publication, the service shall be made complete by the continuance thereof.
(5) If served by publication, service of the summons shall be deemed complete on the date of the last publication. The action shall be deemed commenced upon the issuance of the summons. The order appointing the receiver and the papers upon which the same is granted shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the court where the action is triable within ten days after the order is made.
(6) In the event that the defendant defaults in answering, or if after a trial the court is satisfied that the defendant has ceased to do business by reason of any thing or matter whatsoever, or that it has been dissolved, nationalized, or its authority or existence has been otherwise terminated or cancelled, the court shall thereupon direct judgment, appointing a permanent receiver and directing the receiver to liquidate the assets, credits, choses in action and property, tangible and intangible, in the state of New York of the said defendant, in the manner provided in this article.
(7) The time between the cessation of business by the corporation or its dissolution or nationalization or the termination or cancellation of its authority or existence and the appointment of a receiver in this state pursuant to this article, whichever time is longer, plus three years after such appointment, shall not be a part of the time limited by domestic or foreign law for the commencement of an action or for the assertion of a claim therein by or on behalf of or against said corporation or by or against said receiver, whether or not said action or claim has heretofore been barred by any statute of limitations of this state or of any other state or country.
(8) The existence of and causes of action of or against such corporation existing at the time of its dissolution, nationalization, or the termination or cancellation of its authority or existence, or arising thereafter, shall not be deemed ended, abated or affected thereby, nor shall actions brought by or against such corporation or a receiver appointed hereunder or any remedy therein be deemed to have ended or abated or to have been affected by reason of such dissolution, nationalization, or termination or cancellation of its authority or existence. This provision shall apply to all property, tangible and intangible, debts, demands, and choses in action of such corporation within the state of New York, and to all litigation heretofore or hereafter brought in the courts of the state or of the United States to which the corporation or the receiver of said corporation appointed pursuant to the provisions of this article is a party. Any receiver appointed pursuant to the provisions of this article may be substituted for such corporation in any action or proceeding pending in the courts of the state or of the United States to which such corporation is a party and may intervene in any action or proceeding which relates to or affects any of the assets or claims of the corporation and revive any action which shall have heretofore or which may hereafter have abated, and such dissolution, nationalization, or termination or cancellation of its authority or existence in the jurisdiction of its incorporation, or any confiscatory law or decree thereof, shall not be deemed to have any extra-territorial effect or validity as to the property, tangible or intangible, debts, demands or choses in action of such corporation within the state or any debts or obligations owing to such corporation from persons, firms or corporations residing, sojourning or doing business in the state. Nothing contained in this subdivision shall be deemed to validate claims for or causes of action or actions to recover property located in or moneys payable in the jurisdiction of incorporation which are unenforcible under the laws of such jurisdiction.
(9) If any receiver or trustee has heretofore been appointed in this state for such corporation or its property in any action or proceeding, either before or supplementary to judgment, otherwise than in an action brought pursuant to this article, such receiver or trustee may be appointed or continued as the receiver in any action brought pursuant to the provisions of this article.
(10) The appointment of a receiver or the pendency of an action for the appointment of such receiver, shall until such receiver shall be discharged or until such action shall have terminated, be a bar to any subsequent application or action for the appointment of a receiver of the assets of the same corporation.
(11) An action shall be commenced within three years from the discovery by the plaintiff or his predecessor in interest, of any asset of said corporation in the state of New York.
Last modified: February 3, 2019