RETRIEVE BILL
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2159
2003-2004 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 20, 2003
___________
Introduced by Sen. KRUGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to civil
forfeiture of a motor vehicle in connection with a DWI charge
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 1310 of the civil practice law and
2 rules, as added by chapter 669 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 4. "Instrumentality of a crime" means any property, other than real
5 property and any buildings, fixtures, appurtenances, and improvements
6 thereon, whose use contributes directly and materially to the commission
7 of a crime defined in subdivisions five and six [hereof] of this
8 section, including a vehicle, where the driver is charged with a felony
9 under subdivision two, three or four of section eleven hundred ninety-
10 two of the vehicle and traffic law.
11 § 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision 1 of section 1311 of the
12 civil practice law and rules, as amended by chapter 655 of the laws of
13 1990, is amended to read as follows:
14 A civil action may be commenced by the appropriate claiming authority
15 against a criminal defendant to recover the property which constitutes
16 the proceeds of a crime, the substituted proceeds of a crime, an instru-
17 mentality of a crime or the real property instrumentality of a crime or
18 to recover a money judgment in an amount equivalent in value to the
19 property which constitutes the proceeds of a crime, the substituted
20 proceeds of a crime, an instrumentality of a crime, or the real property
21 instrumentality of a crime. A civil action must be commenced to recover
22 a vehicle where the defendant stands accused of violating subdivision
23 two, three or four of section eleven hundred ninety-two of the vehicle
24 and traffic law and the defendant has been twice convicted of violating
25 subdivision two, three or four of section eleven hundred ninety-two of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09583-01-3
S. 2159 2
1 the vehicle and traffic law in the previous five years. A civil action
2 may be commenced against a non-criminal defendant to recover the proper-
3 ty which constitutes the proceeds of a crime, the substituted proceeds
4 of a crime, an instrumentality of a crime, or the real property instru-
5 mentality of a crime provided, however, that a judgment of forfeiture
6 predicated upon clause (A) of subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (b) of
7 subdivision three [hereof] of this section shall be limited to the
8 amount of the proceeds of the crime. Any action under this article must
9 be commenced within five years of the commission of the crime and shall
10 be civil, remedial, and in personam in nature and shall not be deemed to
11 be a penalty or criminal forfeiture for any purpose. Except as other-
12 wise specially provided by statute, the proceedings under this article
13 shall be governed by this chapter. An action under this article is not
14 a criminal proceeding and may not be deemed to be a previous prosecution
15 under article forty of the criminal procedure law.
16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.