American Capital Corporation v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. United States

472 F.3d 859, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 26987
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedOctober 30, 2006
Docket2005-5150
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 472 F.3d 859 (American Capital Corporation v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Capital Corporation v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. United States, 472 F.3d 859, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 26987 (Fed. Cir. 2006).

Opinions

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge GAJARSA. Opinion dissenting-in-part filed by Circuit Judge RADER.

GAJARSA, Circuit Judge.

This is a Wmsíar-related case. The United States, defendant-appellant, appeals from the final judgment of the Court of Federal Claims (“CFC”) finding the United States liable for $109,309 million. American Capital Corporation (“ACC”) and TransCapital Financial Corporation (“TFC”), plaintiffs-cross appellants, filed suit against the United States in 1995 asserting claims for breach of contract and takings contending that enactment of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIR-REA”) — which phased out the ability of thrifts to count supervisory goodwill toward regulatory capital requirements— breached a contract that allowed TFC’s subsidiary, Transohio Savings Bank (“Transohio”), to amortize such goodwill. On March 25, 1997, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), in its capacity as manager of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (“FSLIC”) Resolution Fund and successor to Transohio, filed a complaint to intervene.

The trial court granted ACC and TFC’s motion for summary judgment holding that the government was liable for a breach of contract. Am. Capital Corp. v. United States, 58 Fed.Cl. 398, 406-09 (2003) (“American Capital I”). Proceeding to damages, the court held on motion for summary judgment that the breach automatically entitled TFC to $168.7 million in rebanee damages based on (1) the $126.479 million book value of Transohio and (2) an additional $42.166 million that TFC infused into Transohio.1 Am. Capital Corp. v. United States, 59 Fed.Cl. 563, 580-84 (2004) (“American Capital II”). The court further held that the United [863]*863States was entitled to summary judgment on the Plaintiffs’ restitution claims, id. at 585-87; and the court subsequently dismissed the FDIC for lack of standing. Am. Capital Corp. v. United States, 60 Fed.Cl. 294, 295-96 (2004) (“American Capital III’).

The court then conducted an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the preliminary award of $168.7 million should be reduced by any losses the government could demonstrate “would have been incurred [by TFC] irrespective of the breach.” Am. Capital Corp. v. United States, 66 Fed.Cl. 315, 316 (2005) (“American Capital IV”). After that hearing, the court reduced the preliminary award by $59.36 million and issued a final opinion. Id. at 364-92.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Parties and Disputed Transactions

Transohio is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TFC. In the 1980s, Transohio was the largest savings and loan institution in Ohio primarily concerned with taking in deposits from customers and lending in the local area. In 1984, ACC acquired a majority interest in TFC and adopted a very aggressive growth strategy.

In 1986, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (“FSLIC”), an agency of the United States, was searching for a firm to acquire two failing institutions, Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association of Cleveland (“Citizens”) and Dollar Savings Bank of Columbus (“Dollar”). TFC offered and won a bid to cause Transohio to merge with Citizens and Dollar. In August of 1986, ACC, TFC, and Transohio entered into an Assistance Agreement with FSLIC, whereby FSLIC (1) made an immediate cash contribution of $107.5 million to Transohio, (2) agreed to purchase certain troubled assets of Citizen and Dollar for $42.5 million, and (3) agreed to indemnify ACC, TFC, and Transohio for expenses they might incur. Along with its assistance, FSLIC further agreed that $50 million in supervisory goodwill arising from the transaction would count as regulatory capital subject only to a 25-year straight-line amortization schedule.2 Without the regulatory capital promised, Transohio would have been out of capital compliance and subject to immediate seizure as a result of its acquisition of the two insolvent thrifts. For their part, ACC and TFC agreed (1) to maintain Transohio’s net worth at specified levels for five years, (2) to not cause Transohio to declare a dividend of more than 50 percent of its net income without regulatory approval, and [864]*864(3) to observe certain restrictions regarding composition of Transohio’s board of directors and loans to officers and directors.

Transohio initially recorded approximately $56.3 million of goodwill arising from the mergers under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and an additional $107.5 million for goodwill related to the FSLIC assistance. Four months after the merger, TFC infused approximately $42.2 million into Transohio.

B. FIRREA and the Government’s Breach

In August of 1989, the Government enacted FIRREA, which restricted Trans-ohio’s ability to count supervisory goodwill and capital credit toward compliance with its tangible capital requirement. As the Supreme Court noted in United States v. Winstar Corp., 518 U.S. 839, 857, 116 S.Ct. 2432, 135 L.Ed.2d 964 (1996), “[t]he impact of FIRREA’s new capital requirements upon institutions that had acquired failed thrifts in exchange for supervisory goodwill was swift and severe.” Many institutions fell out of compliance and were either seized by government regulators or stayed in business only after “massive private recapitalization.” Id. at 857-58, 116 S.Ct. 2432. In this ease, FIRREA deprived Transohio of 50% of its regulatory capital — almost $140 million. Due to the change, Transohio had to shrink its asset base in order to improve regulatory capital ratios, and sell many of its more lucrative assets.

FIRREA’s enactment caused a “snowball effect” that eventually resulted in the FDIC’s seizure of Transohio. The divestiture of assets together with the adverse publicity caused by the breach-induced loss of capital led to higher cost of funds that added to Tranohio’s burden. Furthermore, Transohio’s remaining assets suffered from credit losses, due to the shrinkage in 1989. Next, regulators imposed more stringent requirements on Transohio due to its weakened state, forcing even more losses. In 1991, the government compounded the effects by imposing Individual Minimum Capital Requirements (“IMCR”) requiring Transohio to increase tangible capital in less than 90 days and did not allow Transohio to use supervisory goodwill or capital credit toward that compliance. In July of 1992, Transohio was placed into receivership.

C. The CFC’s Determination

The CFC found the United States liable for $109,309 million in damages to TFC due to the breach. The court held as a matter of law that the government was liable for breach of contract and that TFC “incurred a loss of reliance interests as a direct result of the government’s breach in the amount of $168,645 million.” American Capital IV, 66 Fed.Cl. at 316. The court, however, held an evidentiary hearing to afford the government an opportunity to establish with “reasonable certainty” the “losses that would have been incurred irrespective of the breach.” Id.

After hearing the evidence the court decided to reduce the award to $109,309 million because TFC would have incurred losses irrespective of the breach.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. v. United States
972 F.3d 1322 (Federal Circuit, 2020)
Federal Trade Commission v. Ivy Capital, Inc.
616 F. App'x 360 (Ninth Circuit, 2015)
In re Cellphone Termination Fee Cases CA1/5
California Court of Appeal, 2015
Estate of Liftin v. United States
754 F.3d 975 (Federal Circuit, 2014)
Griffin & Griffin Exploration, LLC v. United States
116 Fed. Cl. 163 (Federal Claims, 2014)
Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. United States
116 Fed. Cl. 202 (Federal Claims, 2014)
Lakeshore Engineering Services, Inc. v. United States
748 F.3d 1341 (Federal Circuit, 2014)
Niemi v. Burgess
Tenth Circuit, 2013
Niemi v. Lasshofer
728 F.3d 1252 (Tenth Circuit, 2013)
D'andrea Brothers Llc v. United States
109 Fed. Cl. 243 (Federal Claims, 2013)
Ambase Corp. v. United States
100 Fed. Cl. 548 (Federal Claims, 2011)
Dairyland Power Cooperative v. United States
645 F.3d 1363 (Federal Circuit, 2011)
Southern Nuclear Operating Co. v. United States
637 F.3d 1297 (Federal Circuit, 2011)
Kansas Gas & Electric Co. v. United States
95 Fed. Cl. 257 (Federal Claims, 2010)
Stovall v. United States
94 Fed. Cl. 336 (Federal Claims, 2010)
In Re Transcapital Financial Corp.
433 B.R. 900 (S.D. Florida, 2010)
Republic Savings Bank, F.S.B. v. United States
584 F.3d 1369 (Federal Circuit, 2009)
Slattery v. United States
583 F.3d 800 (Federal Circuit, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
472 F.3d 859, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 26987, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-capital-corporation-v-federal-deposit-insurance-corporation-v-cafc-2006.