Bank of Laurel v. Bloom

426 F. Supp. 495, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17487
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedFebruary 7, 1977
DocketCiv. A. No. J76-383(C)
StatusPublished

This text of 426 F. Supp. 495 (Bank of Laurel v. Bloom) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bank of Laurel v. Bloom, 426 F. Supp. 495, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17487 (S.D. Miss. 1977).

Opinion

WILLIAM HAROLD COX, District Judge.

The plaintiff instituted this suit against the defendants for injunctive relief and for a declaratory judgment. The plaintiff, as a bank in Laurel, is interested in establishing a branch bank in the city of Ellisville, which is approximately eight to ten miles away from Laurel. There is presently only one state bank in Ellisville.

On September 30,1973, the Jones County State Bank filed an application with the [496]*496state comptroller for a unit bank at Ellis-ville. On March 31, 1976, the Bank of Laurel filed its application with the state comptroller for a permit to establish a branch bank at Ellisville. On September 17, 1976, the First National Bank in Laurel filed an application with the Comptroller of Currency to establish a branch bank at Ellisville. The president of the plaintiff bank did not think that the Comptroller had any power or authority under state law to issue such a permit while the applications were pending for a unit bank and a branch bank at Ellis-ville. That view was communicated to the Examiner and the president of the plaintiff bank asked the Examiner what the Comptroller would do about it. The Examiner stated that such position would not be considered one way or the other. He said: “They would proceed with their findings of First National’s application with little thought or bearing on plaintiff’s application.”

The' plaintiff under such circumstances, and in view of such peril instituted this suit and requested and obtained a temporary restraining order. That temporary restraining order has run its course and expired by the lapse of time, and the plaintiff now has before the Court an application for a temporary injunction in its stead. The federal law on this point in Banks and Banking clearly shows that this branch of the law is subservient to the state law.1 The state statute on incorporating and organizing a bank requires the state comptroller to give prompt consideration to such application and make an examination of proposed articles and determine whether or not all requirements are met. Miss.Code 1972, § 81-3-13 among other things expressly provides: “During the time the cause is pending in the office of the state comptroller or before the banking board or the court, the state comptroller shall not issue a certificate to a subsequent applicant to incorporate and organize a new bank or authorize any bank then existing to establish a branch bank, or branch office within the area wherein the proposed new bank is to be domiciled and neither shall he consent to the removal of the domicile of an existing bank from another place into the area where the proposed new bank will be domiciled.”

The history of this legislation is rather extensive since 1927 and the friends and foes of banking legislation have expressed themselves freely before passage of this act. A full discussion of the various contentions [497]*497as to branch banks as distinguished from unit banks is discussed by the Court. This controversy, however, arises only over the establishment of a branch bank in an adjoining city which would do violence to the business and property rights of the plaintiff and be in flagrant violation of Mississippi law.2

The complaint in this case is sworn to be true and correct in substance and in fact. The complaint shows that it has no way to prevent the federal comptroller from conducting hearings and approving the application before him, even though in violation of state law, and that it would suffer irreparable loss and injury by his granting such relief to First National Bank under such circumstances although there is much conflict in the authorities. The District of Columbia Circuit provides us with a very fine opinion on this subject in First National Bank of Fairbanks v. William B. Camp, Comptroller of the Currency of the United States, et al., 151 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 465 F.2d 586, cert. denied 409 U.S. 1124, 93 S.Ct. 936, 35 L.Ed.2d 255 where among other things the Court said: “However, where such a conflict is found, it makes no difference whether it is the state supervisor’s or the Comptroller’s opinion that is involved; a fair reading of the statute law of the state, as incorporated within the National Bank Act by Section 36(c), must determine whether or not branching is proper.”

The Bank of Laurel is in competition with First National Bank in Laurel, and the city of Ellisville and its environs simply will not economically support the banks in such a relatively small trade territory. The plaintiff has standing to sue in this Court under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1337 as a matter affecting trade and commerce between such banks as competitors; and Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1331(a) which confers jurisdiction on this Court in matters in controversy exceeding the value of $10,000 exclusive of interest and costs which arise under the Constitution and laws of the United States.

There has long been opposition to the exercise of federal power in the banking field. The paramount power of Congress over national banks has been settled for almost, a century and a half. Competitive equality has been a watchword and the polestar for the construction and operation of the system. The Comptroller argued that state law was not applicable to national banks. The Court held in National Bank of Detroit v. The Wayne Oakland Bank; Ray M. Gidney, Comptroller of the Currency v. The Wayne Oakland Bank, (6 CA) 252 F.2d 537, 539: “We are of the opinion that, contrary to the contentions of the appellants, the Michigan statute (17 M.S.A. Section 23.762) is here controlling; that the limitation therein contained as to branch banks applies, not only to state banks, but to national banks as well; and that Title 12 U.S.C.A. Section 36, not only did not empower the Comptroller to establish a branch of the National Bank of Detroit in Troy, Michigan, subsequent to the establishment in that city of a branch of The Wayne Oakland Bank, but, by clear implication, prohibited him from doing so.” And as to standing in National Bank of Detroit v. The Wayne Oakland Bank, supra, the Court said: “As to the standing of The Wayne Oakland Bank to maintain its suit, it was faced with invasion of property rights, and injury from a competition which was prohibited by the federal statutes subjecting national banks to the same rules of law as cover state banks.”

The defendant contends that the plaintiff has not pursued all of its lines open to it for [498]*498relief before instituting this suit, and that the Comptroller may even ultimately decline the certificate, but that view is not consonant to the circumstance and contention confronting the plaintiff here who is summarily told that their predicament will not have any affect on the decision of the Comptroller. Accordingly, this suit followed. A similar situation with similar contentions was made before a trial judge in the District of Columbia who granted an injunction in Commercial State Bank of Fraser v. Gidney, Comptroller, 174 F.Supp. 770, affirmed by a per curiam opinion with Justice Burger on the panel in District of Columbia 278 F.2d 871.

Injunctive relief is necessary in a case of this kind to prevent irreparable injury. In Swift & Co. v.

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426 F. Supp. 495, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17487, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bank-of-laurel-v-bloom-mssd-1977.