Citizens Security Bank & Trust v. Banking Board of Oklahoma

1981 OK 14, 627 P.2d 423, 1981 Okla. LEXIS 199
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 10, 1981
DocketNos. 54332, 55218
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1981 OK 14 (Citizens Security Bank & Trust v. Banking Board of Oklahoma) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Citizens Security Bank & Trust v. Banking Board of Oklahoma, 1981 OK 14, 627 P.2d 423, 1981 Okla. LEXIS 199 (Okla. 1981).

Opinion

OPALA, Justice:

At stake in this consolidated cause is the correctness of a decision and of the proceeding by which a bank charter came to be granted. Protesting banks appealed to the Court of Bank Review and to the district court. The former affirmed the decision and the latter dismissed the appeal for want of subject-matter jurisdiction. From these adverse judgments, protesting banks seek corrective relief. We consolidated the two causes.

The issues to be resolved are: [1] Does the Court of Bank Review have exclusive jurisdiction to review decisions of the Banking Board? [2] Was the Banking Board’s order granting the charter sought by the applicants the product of lawful procedure? [3] Does that order rest on substantial evidence? We give an affirmative answer to all the questions posed.

Bank charter applicants — successful litigants below — sought authority from the Banking Board [Board] to organize the First State Bank and engage in business at Glenpool, Oklahoma. An application was filed with the Commissioner of the Banking Department [Commissioner] who instituted an investigation. A report was filed within the statutory 30-day period. Three days after the investigative report was submitted, an amended application reached the Commissioner. Following a hearing the Board ordered the charter granted.

I.

JURISDICTION OF THE COURT OF BANK REVIEW

Protestants assert the Court of Bank Review [CBR] was invalidly constituted by the Banking Code [Code] because all appellate jurisdiction is vested by Art. 7 § 4, Okl.Con., in the Supreme Court and no intermediate reviewing court may apply corrective process unless it is acting by direct assignment from the Supreme Court. They urge that CBR is an intermediate appellate court subject to this restriction. According to protestants, the provisions of the Oklahoma Administrative Procedure Act [APA] should be applied and the appeal from the Board’s decision held to lie to the district court.1

The CBR — now abolished2 — is expressly named in Art. 7 § 1, Okl.Con., where it is [425]*425unmistakably recognized as the tribunal with an identity distinct from “intermediate appellate courts”.3 Its jurisdiction and continued existence — constitutionally made subject to the will of the legislature — was set forth in the Code4 by which it came to be vested with power to hear and decide all appeals from any final order of the Board and its Commissioner.5 It was authorized to affirm, reverse or modify any such decision or direct a disposition that “may be affirmatively required by law”.6 Its decisions were made reviewable by certiorari in the Supreme Court.7 Procedure for certio-rari access was governed by rules which required that a petition for review be filed “within 15 days after the issuance of any final order”.8

While the APA does not prohibit appeals from the Board to be brought in the district court,9 the Board is subject to the APA provisions only insofar as that act is “not in express conflict” with the Code.10 Since the Code specifically provided for an appeal to the CBR, that provision must take precedence over any contrary terms in the APA. We hence hold that the district court’s dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction did not offend any constitutional command and was clearly proper under the applicable statutory enactments.

II.

CLAIM TO ERROR BASED ON THE BOARD’S APPLICATION OF “UNLAWFUL PROCEDURE”

Protestants urge there was a fatal departure from the statutorily-prescribed procedure because the investigative report filed in the case assumed facts at variance with the original application then on file. The record reveals applicants had orally informed the Board’s investigator of their intended amendment to the application by which they were to change the location of the proposed bank’s situs and add three names to the list of investors. Although the investigator considered this information in the report, the scheme of statutory procedure may not have been strictly followed because the report had reached the Board before the conforming amended application came to be formally filed. We do not view this omission as fatally tainting the process.

The Code requires that an investigative report be submitted to the Commissioner within 30 days after an application for bank charter is filed.11. Since the investigative report took into consideration the changes ultimately made by the amended application, the Board did not have to require that another investigation be conducted.

The Board was vested with “jurisdiction” when the application was filed and the pro[426]*426ceedings were commenced with the issuance of statutory notice. Once the Board’s powers were so invoked, its cognizance continued with undiminished force. The amendment — oral or written — could not divest the Board of its authority.

Both the Board and the CBR found that protestants were not adversely affected or prejudiced by the post-filing changes in the original application. The amended application was filed with the Board three weeks before the hearing and well in time for issuance of proper public notice. Amendments disclosing the existence of changed conditions which affect the proposed bank’s organization are proper and should be considered by the Board.12

Neither did the amendment detract from the merits of the application. The Board determined that a change in the location — a distance of one-half mile from the original situs in Glenpool but within the same trade area — would not result in a significant change in the protestants’ survey which dealt with the original situs.13

We cannot say that the protestants did sustain their burden by showing that changes in the application prejudicially affected their ability to meet the issues or deprived them of the opportunity to do so. We hold the CBR correctly determined that there was substantial compliance with applicable law and no unfairness in the procedural departure.

III.

STANDARD OF JUDICIAL REVIEW GOVERNING BANKING BOARD DECISION

Protestants lastly contend the record is devoid of substantial, competent evidence to support “a present public need” for a bank in Glenpool or that the conditions in Glenpool and the trade area would insure the successful operation of the proposed bank.14

Judicial review of the Board’s decision is governed by the substantial evidence standard.15 The Board also is subject to reversal when its decision rests on “misapprehended or grossly misapplied” legal criteria.16

The substantial evidence standard of review is statutorily prescribed for both this court and the CBR.17 An order of the Board may be reversed or modified if the reviewing court determines the order “is not supported by substantial evidence in the record”.18 The judicial determination is to be made from review of the entire record. This means, of course, that we must take into account not only the evidence which supports the Board’s decision, but also that which contradicts the view taken by the Board.19

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Related

Harvey v. Auto Plus of Woodward
2012 OK CIV APP 92 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2012)
Albright Title & Trust Co. v. Banking Board
1987 OK 35 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1987)
Bogle v. Banking Board
1987 OK CIV APP 3 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
1981 OK 14, 627 P.2d 423, 1981 Okla. LEXIS 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citizens-security-bank-trust-v-banking-board-of-oklahoma-okla-1981.