Arkansas Savings & Loan Ass'n Board v. Central Arkansas Savings & Loan Ass'n

538 S.W.2d 505, 260 Ark. 58, 1976 Ark. LEXIS 1767
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 28, 1976
Docket75-293
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 538 S.W.2d 505 (Arkansas Savings & Loan Ass'n Board v. Central Arkansas Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arkansas Savings & Loan Ass'n Board v. Central Arkansas Savings & Loan Ass'n, 538 S.W.2d 505, 260 Ark. 58, 1976 Ark. LEXIS 1767 (Ark. 1976).

Opinions

Conley Byrd, Justice.

This application for a savings and loan charter by appellee, Central Arkansas Savings & Loan Association, was before us in Ark. S&L Bd. v. Central Ark. S&L, 256 Ark. 846, 510 S.W. 2d 872 (1974) and in Security S&L v. Central Ark. S&L, 257 Ark. 1014, 521 S.W. 2d 220 (1975). On the first appeal we remanded the case to the Arkansas Savings and Loan Association Board because, in denying appellee’s application, the Board had only stated conclusions and had failed to give findings of fact. On the second appeal appellant Security Savings and Loan Association, whose protest had been sustained by the Board, complained that its appeal to the Pulaski Circuit Court was erroneously transferred to the Faulkner Circuit Court. Following those decisions, on this appeal the Faulkner Circuit Court again reversed the action of the Board in denying appellee’s application for a charter. For reversal, appellants, Arkansas Savings & Loan Association Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board, and Security Savings & Loan Association, hereinafter referred to as Security, contend that the findings of the Board are sustained by substantial evidence.

In making their contention, appellants take the position that, for purposes of determining whether the Board’s administrative findings are supported by substantial evidence, we should be governed by the same rule of review as in cases involving jury verdicts. In this connection appellants state:

“Because of this holding the evidence which tended to support a finding that a public need and probability of success did exist is irrelevant and was not included in the abstract.”

With respect to judicial review of administrative findings our Administrative Procedure Act, Ark. Stat. Ann. § 5-713 (Supp. 1973), provides:

(g) The review shall be conducted by the court without a jury and shall be confined to the record, except that in cases of alleged irregularities in procedure before the agency, not shown in the record, testimony may be taken before the court. The court shall, upon request, hear oral argument and receive written briefs.
(h) The court may affirm the decision of the agency or remand the case for further proceedings. It may reverse or modify the decision if the substantial rights of the petitioner have been prejudiced because the administrative findings, inferences, conclusions, or decisions are:
(1) in violation of constitutional or statutory provisions;
(2) in excess of the agency’s statutory authority;
(3) made upon unlawful procedure;
(4) affected by other error of law;
(5) not supported by substantial evidence of record; or
(6) arbitrary, capricious, or characterized by abuse of discretion.”

The provisions of the federal Administrative Procedure Act were discussed in Universal Camera Corp. v. National L. R. Bd., 340 U.S. 474, 71 S. Ct. 456, 95 L. Ed. 456 (1950), with reference to whether a review of an administrative decision based upon the substantial evidence rule could be predicated upon only the evidence supporting the administrative finding when viewed by itself. In holding that such a review should be on the record as a whole, the court said:

“Whether or not it was ever permissible for courts to determine the substantiality of evidence supporting a Labor Board decision merely on the basis of evidence which in and of itself justified it, without taking into account contradictory evidence or evidence from which conflicting inferences could be drawn, the new legislation definitely precludes such a theory or review and bars its practice. The substantiality of evidence must take into account whatever in the record fairly detracts from its weight. ...”

Under the language of the Administrative Procedure Act, supra, we construe the language thereof to give to the courts the same type of review that is applied by the federal courts to the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

The order entered by the Board following the remand of the first appeal is as follows:

“The Board, upon review of the record, finds that the application should be denied for the following reasons:
3. There is not a public need at the present time for the proposed association and the volume of business in the areas in which the association would conduct its business is not sufficient to indicate a successful operation.
The Board hereby makes the following findings of underlying facts upon which this finding is based:
(a) Conway and Faulkner County are within the metropolitan Little Rock trade and market area and a substantial number of Faulkner County residents commute to work in Little Rock and Pulaski County.
(b) There is keen competition for home loans in Conway and Faulkner County by Security Savings & Loan Association of Conway (‘Security’), Morrilton Federal Savings & Loan Association (‘Morrilton Federal’), the two banks in Cohway, savings and loan associations from the Little Rock area, and other institutions from the Little Rock area. The approval by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of the branch office of Morrilton Federal will increase this competition. There is no need for additional competition for home loans and the volume of home loans is not sufficient to support additional competition.
(c) There is keen competition for savings deposits from Conway and Faulkner County residents by Security, the two banks in Conway, and thrift institutions in Pulaski County. Morrilton Federal has competed for savings deposits from Conway and Faulkner County residents to some extent in the past and will compete for such savings deposits to a much greater extent with the establishment of its branch office in Conway. Thrift institutions in Pulaski County obtain significant amounts of savings from residents of Faulkner County who commute to work in Pulaski County during the normal operating hours for financial institutions. There is no need for additional competition for savings and the volume of savings is not sufficient to support additional competition.
(d) From the standpoint of the services offered to Faulkner County residents, and in light of the services provided to Faulkner County residents in the past, and in view of the relative geographic locations of Morrilton and Conway, the establishment of Morrilton Federal’s branch office in Conway will be comparable to the establishment of a second association in Conway.
(e) The populations of Conway and Faulkner County are not large enough to support an additional association.
(f) With the establishment of an additional association the population per savings and loan association office in Faulkner County would be 10,524 compared to a range from a low of 12,180 to a high of 33,256 for the eight market areas covering the state as defined by Dr.

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Ark. S. & L. Ass'n v. Cent. Ark. S. & L.
538 S.W.2d 505 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1976)

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Bluebook (online)
538 S.W.2d 505, 260 Ark. 58, 1976 Ark. LEXIS 1767, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arkansas-savings-loan-assn-board-v-central-arkansas-savings-loan-ark-1976.