American Capital Corp. v. United States

58 Fed. Cl. 398, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 309, 2003 WL 22508084
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 31, 2003
DocketNo. 95-523C
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 58 Fed. Cl. 398 (American Capital Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Capital Corp. v. United States, 58 Fed. Cl. 398, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 309, 2003 WL 22508084 (uscfc 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BRADEN, Judge.

This case is another progeny of Winstar Corp. v. United States, 25 Cl.Ct. 541 (1992) (“Winstar /”), ajfd, 64 F.3d 1531 (Fed.Cir. [401]*4011995) (en banc) (“Winstar II”), ajpd, 518 U.S. 839, 116 S.Ct. 2432, 135 L.Ed.2d 964 (1996) (“Winstar IIP’). For the reasons discussed herein, the court grants the October 10, 2000 motion for partial summary judgment filed by American Capital Corporation and Tran-scapital Financial Corporation (collectively “plaintiffs”), in substantial part, because an August 29, 1986 Assistance Agreement between plaintiffs and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (“FSLIC”), incorporating by reference an August 21, 1986 Federal Home Loan Bank Board (“FHLBB”) Resolution No. 86-864 (“Assistance Agreement”), created a valid and enforceable contract. That contract was breached by the Office of Thrift Supervision (“OTS”), the successor agency to the FHLBB, at least as early as December 7, 1989 when OTS issued final regulations implementing far more stringent regulatory capital requirements and standards than those set forth in the terms of FHLBB Resolution No. 86-864 and the Assistance Agreement executed in reliance thereof.

RELEVANT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1

To date, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued twenty-six opinions implementing and interpreting a variety of legal issues in Winstar-related cases that chronicle in detail the financial crisis in the savings and loan (“thrift”) industry leading to the enactment of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”), Pub.L. No. 101-73,103 Stat. 183 (1989). See, e.g., Anderson v. United States, 344 F.3d 1343, 1345-47 (Fed.Cir.2003); Landmark Land Co., Inc. v. United States, 256 F.3d 1365, 1369-71 (Fed.Cir.2001); Glendale Fed. Bank, FSB v. United States, 239 F.3d 1374, 1376-78 (Fed.Cir.2001). Therefore, knowledge of the history of FIRREA and the teachings of Winstar are presumed, so the court will limit the narrative and discussion in this opinion to the facts and controlling law relevant to a resolution of plaintiffs’ pending summary judgment motion regarding liability.

A. The Transohio Merger

On August 29, 1985, FSLIC and FHLBB convened a conference of financial institutions and potential investors to market three financially troubled thrifts, including Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association of Cleveland, Ohio (“Citizens”) and Dollar Savings Bank of Columbus, Ohio (“Dollar”). See PLApp. at 322-35. On October 23, 1985, Transohio Savings Bank, F.S.B. (“Trans-ohio”), a federally chartered stock savings and loan association, insured by FSLIC, submitted a proposal to acquire Citizens and Dollar. See PLApp. at 26-203. Transohio, FSLIC, and FHLBB continued good faith negotiations from October 1985 through July 1986. See Burstein Affidavit (Chairman of Transohio; Chairman, President and CEO of Transcapital Financial Corporation; and President and CEO of American Capital Corporation 2) at S 8 (PI App. at 3). On August 21, 1986, FHLBB declared Citizens, a federally chartered, FSLIC-insured thrift institution insolvent. See PLApp. at 14-25. On August 21, 1986, FHLBB also declared Dollar, an Ohio chartered, FSLIC-insured mutual savings bank insolvent. Id.

On August 21, 1986, FHLBB issued Resolution No. 86-864 conditionally approving a proposed Assistance Agreement between plaintiffs, Transohio, and the Government. See PLApp. at 14-23. The key terms of the Assistance Agreement signed by plaintiffs, Transohio, and FSLIC on August 29, 1986 were: 1) Transohio would merge with Citizens and Dollar to form one entity to be [402]*402known as Transohio; 2) FSLIC promised to make a $107.5 million cash contribution to the new Transohio; 3) FSLIC agreed to indemnify American Capital, TFC, and Transohio for certain claims and potential losses; 4) FSLIC agreed to purchase approximately $41.5 million of non-performing Citizens assets at book value;3 5) Transohio would be allowed to book the $107.5 million in FSLIC assistance as a capital credit4 to net worth; 6) Transohio would be allowed to amortize intangible asserts, i.e., supervisory goodwill,5 over a 25 year period using the straight line method;6 and 7) American Capital and TFC agreed to maintain the net worth of Transohio at regulatory levels and to a “Dividend Limitation Restriction.” See PLApp. at 228-292. Transohio ultimately booked more than $50 million in goodwill resulting from the mergers. See PI. M. Sum. J. at 10.

On September 10, 1986, FHLBB also issued a forbearance letter confirming that FSLIC would not foreclose for a five-year period after the Transohio merger for failure to meet net worth requirements. See PL App. at 293-94.

The terms of the August 21, 1986 FHLBB Resolution 86-864, the Assistance Agreement, the September 10, 1986 forbearance letter, and the totality of circumstances surrounding the Transohio merger, were typical of scores of other transactions closed in the 1980s where, as the Federal Circuit has explained:

FSLIC encouraged private investors ... to purchase struggling thrifts so that it would not be necessary to liquidate the thrifts using FSLIC funds to reimburse depositors. The primary inducement that the FSLIC offered potential purchasers was a partial forbearance from regulatory capital requirements. The FSLIC accomplished this by allowing the purchaser to treat the thrift’s asset shortfall itself as a fictional asset, so that the thrift’s assets and liabilities were placed in equipoise at the time of acquisition-at least on paper. For instance, if a thrift had $80 in assets and $100 in liabilities, the FSLIC would allow the thrift’s purchaser to allocate the $20 shortfall in real assets to a fictional asset called “supervisory goodwill.” The FSLIC would then allow the thrift to include this supervisory goodwill among the assets used to meet regulatory capital maintenance requirements. Because the regulatory goodwill was amortized over a long period, typically forty years ... the [403]*403thrift’s purchaser would have to contribute much less in actual capital to the thrift. This made the thrift far more attractive to potential purchasers, at no cost to the FSLIC.

Landmark, 256 F.3d at 1370.

On November 26, 1986, Transohio submitted a report to FHLBB describing the intangible assets, including supervisory goodwill, that were being carried on Transohio’s books in reliance on the terms of the Assistance Agreement. See Pl.App. at 295-97. At that time, Transohio also provided FHLBB with an opinion letter by Peat Marwick, Trans-ohio’s certified public accounting firm, concluding that the August 29, 1986 merger complied with “generally accepted accounting principles.” See PLApp. at 298-99.

On April 20, 1987, however, FHLBB advised Transohio that it should “amend ...

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Related

In Re Transcapital Financial Corp.
433 B.R. 900 (S.D. Florida, 2010)
American Capital Corp. v. United States
59 Fed. Cl. 563 (Federal Claims, 2004)

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58 Fed. Cl. 398, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 309, 2003 WL 22508084, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-capital-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2003.