Bank of Kirksville v. United States

943 F. Supp. 1191, 78 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7321, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17268, 1996 WL 635945
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedOctober 31, 1996
DocketNo. 93-0222-CV-W-9
StatusPublished

This text of 943 F. Supp. 1191 (Bank of Kirksville v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bank of Kirksville v. United States, 943 F. Supp. 1191, 78 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7321, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17268, 1996 WL 635945 (W.D. Mo. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST FOR THE RECOVERY OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX AND ESTABLISHING A PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF PLAINTIFFS RECOVERY

BARTLETT, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff Bank of Kirksville (the Bank), is located in Kirksville, Missouri. For each of the years 1973 through 1979, 1982, and 1985 through 1988, the Bank of Kirksville timely filed a United States corporation income tax return (Form 1120) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS disallowed a portion of plaintiffs bad debt deductions and required plaintiff to- recognize interest that would háve accrued on the non-performing loans. Plaintiff paid the corresponding increase in its income tax for the affected years. Plaintiff sought and was denied a refund from the IRS of the additional federal income tax paid. After plaintiffs request for a refund was denied, plaintiff brought suit in this court seeking recovery of the federal income tax and interest paid on the disputed amount of income tax..

A non-jury trial was held from December 19, through December 23, 1994, and from May 22, through May 24,1995.

I.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Based on the evidence presented at trial, I make the following Findings of Fact.

Plaintiff Bank of Kirksville is a Missouri banking corporation with its principal office in Kirksville, Missouri. Kirksville is a rural community of approximately 16,000 residents with a primarily agricultural-based economy. Generally, the Bank does business with customers within a 50-mile radius of the Bank.

During the years in issue, loans made to farmers or agricultural-related businesses were 24% of the Bank’s loan portfolio.

Also during the time period relevant to this lawsuit, the Board of Directors of the Bank (the Board) included farmers, an accountant, an attorney, the owner of a plumbing supply and Bank officers. The Board members had extensive experience in farming and banking. In most instances, the Board members knew personally or by reputation the citizens and businesses that borrowed money from the Bank. The Board often had personal knowledge about the quality and value of collateral pledged to secure repayment of the Bank’s loans.

[1193]*1193The Board’s Executive Committee reviewed the Bank’s problem loans on a weekly basis. The full board reviewed all loans on a monthly basis. At Board meetings, the Bank’s loan officers often reported on the status of specific loans, on the financial position of borrowers, and on the value of collateral securing the Bank’s loans.

When the Board determined that payments were not being made on a loan that was undersecured, i.e., the value of the collateral was less than the loan balance, and that there was little likelihood that the borrower’s financial position would improve, the Bank often charged-off all or a portion of the loan. The charge-offs reduced the Bank’s assets by the amount of the charge-off. In addition, the Bank no longer accrued interest on the charged-off portion of the loan and, therefore, its net income was reduced. The Bank’s income tax liability decreased as a result of the reduction in the Bank’s income.

For the tax years at issue, the Board determined when loans should be charged-off in whole or in part. When making a decision to charge-off a portion or all of a loan, the Board used its personal knowledge of farming and the local and national economies. The Board considered many factors including the borrower’s history of payment, the borrower’s reputation, the borrower’s financial condition, the recommendation of outside professionals and regulatory agencies, and the value of the collateral securing the loan.

In considering the value of its collateral and in determining whether a debt was worthless, the Bank factored in the Bank’s costs to liquidate the asset in a forced sale. In effect, the Bank considered what net amount would be available to reduce the balance of the loan. In addition to making a determination of the value of collateral, the Bank considered whether it had a senior lien that would be paid first out of any proceeds obtained through sale of collateral or a junior lien that would only be paid after the senior lien was paid off.

The Bank relied on the Board members’ personal experience and expertise as well as information contained in Credit Memorandums in making its charge-off decisions. Credit Memorandums for individual borrowers were prepared by the Bank’s loan officers and included such things as appraisals of the collateral, the borrowers’ balance sheet, a cash flow analysis and other pertinent information concerning the borrower.

In most instances, by the time the Board made the decision to charge-off all or a portion of a loan, the Bank had worked with the borrower for a two- or three-year period in order to assist the borrower in getting current with principal and interest payments.

In addition to charging-off worthless debts in whole or in part, the Bank stopped accruing interest income on loans deemed nonperforming but which had not yet been charged-off.' The Bank determined that a loan was nonperforming when interest and/or principal payments were not being made by the borrower. When loans were put on- this “non-accrual” status, the loans remained part of the Bank’s assets on its balance sheet. The Bank’s policy was to put its loans on non-accrual status when the loan was 90 days delinquent and the Bank had no reasonable expectation that it could collect the interest on the loan.

The economy in the Bank of Kirksville’s trade area is closely intertwined with the farm economy. During the late 1970’s through the early 1980’s, the agricultural economy was booming. Commodities, livestock, and land prices increased at a great rate. In the mid-1980’s, real estate, livestock and commodities prices fell dramatically. For example, prices for farmland in Northwest Missouri, where the Bank is located, fell by about 55% from 1981 to 1986.

Many farmers had severe cash flow problems after the prices of livestock and commodities fell. Many farmers in the Bank’s trade area had financed their expansion during the good times by borrowing from the Bank. When the downturn came, many of these customers could not make their loan payments. Farmers seeking to sell their farmland or machinery to pay off their loans found that there were no buyers for their property.

Because farmers were struggling, many related businesses in the Kirksville area such as machinery dealers, grain elevators, and [1194]*1194rural banks failed or found themselves in severe financial trouble. For instance, by the mid~80’s, every farm machinery business in Kirksville had either gone out of business or had been foreclosed by a lender.

During this time, the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and the Federal Land Bank (FLB) foreclosed on many farmers in the Kirksville area. The Chairman of the Board of the Bank,. Fred Jaynes, worked with the FLB to restructure loans so that the Bank’s borrowers were in a better position to repay their loans.

In addition to restructuring their loans, farmers sought government subsidies to help them through the farm crisis. For example, farmers who participated in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) received money in exchange for letting their farmland lie fallow. However, the receipt of government subsidies and the restructuring of debt did not provide an adequate safety net for many farmers in the Kirksville area.

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943 F. Supp. 1191, 78 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7321, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17268, 1996 WL 635945, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bank-of-kirksville-v-united-states-mowd-1996.