Coast-To-Coast Financial Corp. v. United States

60 Fed. Cl. 707, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 134, 2004 WL 1211892
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJune 1, 2004
DocketNo. 95-525C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 Fed. Cl. 707 (Coast-To-Coast Financial Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coast-To-Coast Financial Corp. v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 707, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 134, 2004 WL 1211892 (uscfc 2004).

Opinion

[708]*708OPINION

BRTJGGINK, Judge.

Pending in this Winstar-related1 case are the cross-motions for summary judgment with respect to damages of plaintiff Coast-To-Coast Financial Corporation (“CTC”), and defendant United States. Oral argument was held on May 7, 2004.2 For the reasons set out below, CTC’s motion for summary judgment is denied and the government’s cross-motion for summary judgment is granted.

BACKGROUND

This case arises out of the acquisition from the United States of a defunct thrift, Old Lyons, a federally chartered mutual association.3 Among the documents comprising the acquisition, there was an Assistance Agreement. The action was initially brought by four plaintiffs. Coast Partners and UBH, Inc. were investors. The bank which ultimately emerged from the transaction, Superior Bank, initially was also a plaintiff. The final plaintiff was CTC, the holding company for Superior Bank. UBH, Inc. and Coast Partners were dismissed on voluntary motion in 2003. See Order of February 11, 2003. Superior Bank closed in July, 2001, and was taken over by the FDIC, which thereafter was substituted as plaintiff for the bank. The FDIC was voluntarily dismissed as plaintiff in 2003. See Order of September 11, 2003. As a result, the only remaining plaintiff is CTC.

Two breaches are asserted in the complaint. The first is that the adoption of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”), Pub.L. 101-73,103 Stat. 183 (1989),4 constituted a breach of the promise made by the United States at the time of acquisition of the defunct bank that supervisory goodwill could be used to satisfy regulatory capital requirements. The second is that there was an independent breach of contract resulting from the passage in 1993 of the “Guarini” legislation, which had the effect of eliminating part of the tax benefits upon which the transaction was predicated.5

In Coast-to-Coast Financial Corp. v. United States, 52 Fed.Cl. 352 (2002) (“Coast I ”), we agreed with plaintiffs that passage of the Guarini legislation constituted a breach of the assistance agreement entered into between CTC and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (“FSLIC”) in connection with the acquisition by CTC of Lyons Savings Bank. We held, as we had in similar cases, that the Guarini legislation breached an obligation of good faith and fair dealing by targeting for retroactive elimination the covered asset loss deduction previously held out to plaintiffs like CTC as an incentive to acquire failing thrifts. See, e.g., Centex Corp. v. United States, 49 Fed.Cl. 691 (2001).

In Coast-to-Coast Financial Corp. v. United States, 58 Fed.Cl. 327 (2003) (“Coast II ”), we held that the adoption of FIRREA constituted an independent breach of the assistance agreement. In construing the various contract documents, we noted that the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (“FHLBB”), in its resolution approving the merger and acquisition and in its subsequent forbearance letter, had assured the bank of its entitlement to claim supervisory good will toward regulatory capital. The amount and [709]*709amortization period were separately fixed at $23.8 million and ten years, respectively. The adoption of FIRREA constituted a breach of that promise.

Familiarity with Coast I and II is assumed, although certain background facts must be emphasized. Although the availability of the covered asset tax loss was very important to CTC, and, to a lesser extent, the use of supervisory goodwill, those elements of the agreement must be viewed in the larger context. The entire transaction was comprised of several reciprocal promises.

Through the assistance agreement and related acquisition, CTC received a number of benefits. First, it was allowed to acquire Lyons Savings Bank. Lyons was converted into a stock association and CTC acquired all the stock. The net result was that CTC became the sole owner of the bank’s assets and liabilities.6 Although liabilities far exceeded the actual value of assets, presumably CTC found the entire deal worthwhile because of its desire to enter the thrift business and because the government virtually held CTC harmless from loss due to that negative value. In exchange for acquiring a failing thrift with considerable liabilities, CTC was to receive the following: reimbursement for losses resulting from capital losses on covered assets; write-down of covered assets and for certain related costs and expenses; guaranteed yield on certain covered assets; indemnification for certain unreserved claims against Lyons; indemnification for expenses of pursuing related claims; an interest bearing note in a principle amount equal to the difference between book value and fair market value of certain assets and liabilities, less $14 million; and supervisory goodwill in the amount of $23.8 million. The principal amount of the note alone was $176 million. In addition, however, CTC also acquired the right to utilize approximately $143 million in net opei*ating losses generated by Old Lyons, as well as the right to claim covered asset loss deductions with respect to certain assets.

In exchange for what it received, or would receive, from the government, CTC took over Lyons Savings Bank, forestalling the government’s need to liquidate the institution. It also was required to contribute $42.5 million in cash to the new institution. In addition, CTC promised to split the net profits of Superior Bank with the government as a way of sharing tax benefits. This sharing would come in the form of “payments-in-lieu [of taxes]” (“PIL”). Under the PIL provision of the agreement, CTC agreed to pay to FSLIC, for 10 yeai’s, in cash, 22.5% of the bank’s net income before taxes. This represented a substitute for direct tax benefit sharing. We recognized in Coast II the importance to the parties of the tax benefit provisions.

As we also explained in our earlier opinions, the bank was responsible for maintaining a Special Reserve Account (“SRA”). In effect, this constituted a running balance as between FSLIC and the bank of the parties’ various payment obligations under the assistance agreement. FSLIC’s duty to pay on the note, or to reimburse for losses, for example, would be debited against the bank’s obligation to make PIL payments. The bank would then demand or make a net payment, depending on whether or not it owed the government money.

FIRREA was enacted in 1989. It undercut and eventually eliminated CTC’s ability to benefit from supervisory goodwill as capital. Guarini was enacted in 1993, eliminating tax benefits flowing from the deduction of capital asset losses. Despite these two breaches, the assistance agreement remained in effect from 1989 until 1998, when it expired by its own terms. Rather than terminate the agreement altogether, in 1994, in reaction to Guarini, CTC ceased making PIL payments to the SRA account. At the time the agreement expired in 1998, there was a net credit in favor of the FDIC of nearly $10 million, consisting primarily of unpaid PIL. Although the FDIC took the position that this constituted a breach by CTC, it did not call for termination of the parties’ contractual arrangement.

The parties, in short, continued to operate under most terms of them contractual arrangement until 1998, three years after this law suit was filed. Neither party repudiated [710]

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Related

Old Stone Corp. v. United States
63 Fed. Cl. 65 (Federal Claims, 2004)
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62 Fed. Cl. 469 (Federal Claims, 2004)

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60 Fed. Cl. 707, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 134, 2004 WL 1211892, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coast-to-coast-financial-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2004.