§ 483.015.Amount to Be Secured By Attachment

Establishing that a claim qualifies for attachment under § 483.010 is only the first step; § 483.015 fixes the dollar amount the writ secures. Subdivision (a) starts with the sum of the defendant’s indebtedness as the plaintiff claims it, plus any additional amount the court includes for estimated costs and allowable attorney’s fees under § 482.110.

Subdivision (b) then requires that starting figure to be reduced by four kinds of offsets: an unsatisfied and enforceable money judgment the defendant holds against the plaintiff; the amount of any indebtedness the defendant has claimed against the plaintiff in a cross-complaint, if the defendant’s own claim would itself qualify for attachment; the amount of any claim the defendant has asserted as a defense of compensating cross-demands under § 431.70, again only if that claim would itself qualify for attachment (setting aside any statute-of-limitations bar); and the value of any security interest the plaintiff already holds in the defendant’s property to secure the claimed debt, adjusted for any decrease in that security’s value caused by the plaintiff or a prior security holder. The result nets out competing claims and existing security so the attachment secures only what the plaintiff is still owed.