Cosgrove v. First & Merchants National Bank

68 F.R.D. 555, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1230, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16191
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedSeptember 16, 1975
DocketCiv. A. No. 74-0064-R
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 68 F.R.D. 555 (Cosgrove v. First & Merchants National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cosgrove v. First & Merchants National Bank, 68 F.R.D. 555, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1230, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16191 (E.D. Va. 1975).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

MERHIGE, District Judge.

• Plaintiff brings this alleged class action against the defendant First & Merchants National Bank (“F & M”) 1 charging it with violations of the usury statutes of the Commonwealth of Virginia and of the National Bank Act, which incorporates the state usury statutes by reference.2 12 U.S.C. §§ 85, 86 (1970); Va.Code §§ 6.1-320-21, 6.1-326 (Repl.Vol.1973). The matter comes before the Court upon the defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The defendant has moved, in the alternative, for the Court [557]*557to abstain from further consideration of the issues raised in the action until such time as the plaintiff has presented the issues to and had such issues adjudicated in the courts of the State of Virginia. Also before the Court are the plaintiff’s motion to define the class and the method of notice to the class, and his motion to compel answers to various interrogatories objected to by the defendant.

The plaintiff alleges that jurisdiction is conferred upon the Court by 12 U.S.C. § 86 and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1337, 1355 without regard to the amount of the claim. The Court concludes that jurisdiction to entertain this action is conferred on the Court by 28 U.S.C. § 1337.3 Congress regulates nationally chartered banks under the authority of the Commerce Clause, and, thus, 12 U.S. C. §§ 85, 86, as provisions of the National Bank Act, are portions of an “[a]ct of Congress regulating commerce” within the meaning of Section 1337. Brown v. First National City Bank, 503 F.2d 114 (2d Cir. 1974); Burns v. American National Bank & Trust Co., 479 F.2d 26 (8th Cir. 1973); Partain v. First National Bank of Montgomery, 467 F.2d 167 (5th Cir. 1972). The defendant erroneously argues that such an interpretation of § 1337 will destroy the effect of the last sentence of 28 U.S.C. § 1348.4 It is asserted that once it is held that regulatory provisions of the National Bank Act support federal court jurisdiction through § 1337, all actions by or against national banks will be cognizable in federal court in spite of contrary language in § 1348. Section 1348 is intended to divest federal courts of jurisdiction in actions by or against nationally chartered banks that depend solely on the bank’s creation by an act of Congress for jurisdiction. Burns v. American National Bank & Trust Co., supra, 479 F.2d 26, 27 (8th Cir. 1973). However, Congress regulates nationally chartered banks pursuant to the Commerce Clause. Those sections of the National Bank Act that specify the usury limitations applicable to nationally chartered banks are regulatory provisions, and, therefore, actions involving those provisions are cognizable in federal courts under § 1337. Section 1348 remains viable in that it restricts federal court jurisdiction in those cases that involve a nationally chartered bank but no congressional regulatory statute.5

The defendant has also asked the Court to abstain from further consideration of the issues raised in the case until the courts of the State of Virginia have had a chance to rule on the issues. The major issue in the case is the applicability of Virginia’s usury statutes, Va.Code §§ 6.1-320-21 (Repl. Vol.1973), to the “initial charge” of two per centum on each cash advance made to the plaintiffs under the defendant’s open-ended credit plan, “BankAmerieard.” See Cosgove v. First & Merchants National Bank, No. 74-0064-R [558]*558(E.D.Va., Memorandum and Order, Jan. 6, 1975). The fact that state law controls the issue, however, is not enough, without more, to justify invoking the abstention doctrine. See Propper v. Clark, 337 U.S. 472, 486-492, 69 S.Ct. 1333, 93 L.Ed. 1480 (1949); cf. Meredith v. City of Winter Haven, 320 U.S. 228, 64 S.Ct. 7, 88 L.Ed. 9 (diversity case); Martine v. State Farm Mutual Auto Ins. Co., 375 F.2d 720 (4th Cir. 1967) (diversity case). Furthermore, abstention is not favored, for remission to state courts involves substantial delay and expense, and the chance is slight that the state court determination and the federal court determination will be significantly different. See Baggett v. Bullitt, 377 U.S. 360, 378-79, 84 S.Ct. 1316, 12 L.Ed.2d 377 (1969); Chicago v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 357 U.S. 77, 84, 78 S.Ct. 1063, 2 L.Ed.2d 1174 (1958).

L6] The defendants rely on dicta in Brown v. First Nat’l. City Bank, 503 F. 2d 114 (2d Cir. 1974), which suggests, in a case similar to this that abstention may be appropriate under the Burford doctrine. See Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943). In Burford, jurisdiction was declined to avoid interference with a state’s administrative policy-making process, a consideration not present in this case. A ruling on the application of the Virginia usury statutes to the facts of this case will not substantially affect any of Virginia’s regulatory systems; the question involved in the instant case is a narrow one of classification. The defendant also suggests that support for abstention can be found in Fralin & Waldron, Inc. v. City of Martinsville, 493 F.2d 481 (4th Cir. 1974), and AFA Distributing Co., Inc. v. Pearl Brewing Co., 470 F.2d 1210 (4th Cir. 1973). However, both those cases involved federal constitutional challenges to state law that could be avoided by a state adjudication. The significance and permanence of constitutional adjudications and the policy of avoiding needless friction between federal and state governments justify abstention in such cases. However, no federal constitutional question is presented in this ease; the interpretation of a congressional regulatory statute is in issue.

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Bluebook (online)
68 F.R.D. 555, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1230, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cosgrove-v-first-merchants-national-bank-vaed-1975.