Craft v. Florida Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n

786 F.2d 1546
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 22, 1986
DocketNo. 85-3497
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 786 F.2d 1546 (Craft v. Florida Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Craft v. Florida Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n, 786 F.2d 1546 (11th Cir. 1986).

Opinion

DYER, Senior Circuit Judge:

This is an interlocutory appeal from an order of the district court denying the motions of Florida Federal Savings and Loan Association (Florida Federal) to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint and for a summary judgment. Plaintiffs Crafts and Dreyers (Crafts), subscribers to a stock offering by Florida Federal pursuant to a conversion from a mutual to stock association, sought rescission and money damages by reason of an increase in the size of the stock offering allegedly in violation of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (Bank Board) regulations, and various federal and state securities laws. The primary thrust of the motion to dismiss and the motion for summary judgment was that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because under the National Housing Act and the Home Owners Loan Act of 1933, as amended, a United States Court of Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction to review a final action of the Bank Board which approves, with or without conditions, or disapproves a plan of conversion.

The district court denied the motions on the ground that the approval of the increase in the size of the stock offering was not a final action by the Bank Board on the plan of conversion, but instead was a subsequent action which was in violation of the Bank Board’s regulations and thus was not within the purview of the Review Statutes. We disagree and reverse.

On February 1, 1983 Florida Federal filed its amended application for conversion with the Bank Board for permission to convert from a mutual to a stock form of organization. An independent valuation of the aggregate pro forma market value of the association prepared by Kidder, Pea[1548]*1548body & Co., Incorporated (Kidder) accompanied Florida Federal’s filing. Kidder’s appraisal of the maximum pro forma market value of the stock to be issued and sold by Florida Federal was $86.25 million. On April 18, 1983 Florida Federal filed a further amendment to its application for conversion. Kidder’s appraisal at that time showed an increase in the pro forma market value to a range between $93.75 and $125 million based upon changes in the market prices of the stock of a comparison group of savings and loan associations during the intervening ten week period. Florida Federal sought Bank Board approval to include a provision in its proposed plan for the conversion that would permit it to seek Bank Board approval of an increase or decrease in the number of shares of stock to be issued and sold in the conversion process depending upon Kidder’s final appraisal of the association’s value immediately prior to the public offering.

On April 29, 1983 the Bank Board approved, with certain conditions, Florida Federal’s application for conversion, which included a plan of conversion. The plan provided in pertinent part:

The total number of conversion stock to be issued and sold by the Converting Association upon the conversion will be initially determined by the Board of Directors prior to the commencement of the Subscription Offering. Such determination will be based upon an estimate of the aggregate fair market value of the Converting Association at that time provided that, with the approval of FSLIC, the Board of Directors of Florida Federal may elect to increase or decrease the number of shares to be offered in the Public Offering if such estimate of the aggregate fair market value of the conversion stock of Florida Federal is increased or decreased by the independent appraiser; ...

As a condition of its April 29, 1983 approval the Bank Board required that the capital stock to be sold by Florida Federal should be for not less than $93,800,000 nor more than $125,000,000, and that after the sale of all the shares of the capital stock to be sold, Florida Federal should submit a statement by its independent appraiser that to the best of its knowledge and judgment nothing had occurred which would cause it “to conclude that the sale price was not compatible with its estimate of the Association’s total pro forma market value at the time of sale.”

On May 2, 1983 Florida Federal circulated a proxy statement for a May 26, 1983 membership meeting to approve its plan of conversion. It commenced its Subscription Stock Offering to eligible members by means of a Subscription Offering Circular which included the price range and anticipated shares estimate derived from the Kidder appraisal considered by the Bank Board on April 29, 1983, i.e., an estimated sale of 6.25 million shares of stock at a uniform price to be set between $15 and $20 per share. The offering circular indicated that Florida Federal expected to sell approximately 937,000 shares in the Subscription Offering and intended to offer the remaining 5,300,000 shares to the public in an offering managed by Kidder which would commence immediately following approval of the plan of conversion by Florida Federal’s membership. Investors in this Subscription Offering were required to submit an order form and tender payment at the rate of $20 per share prior to 5:00 p.m. on May 25,1983 with the right to have their money refunded if the plan was not approved by Florida Federal’s members at the May 26, 1983 meeting.

The Subscription Offering Circular had a caveat which provided in pertinent part:

The number of shares to be offered in the Public Offering may be increased or decreased, with the approval of the FSLIC, if the estimate of the aggregate fair market value of Florida Federal issued shortly prior to the commencement of the Subscription Offering is increased or decreased by Kidder, Peabody ... Persons subscribing for less than 5% of the Conversion Stock would not have the right to increase their subscriptions in the event the total number of shares of Conversion Stock is increased. Since the percentage of the total Conversion Stock [1549]*1549subscribed to by such persons would be reduced in such event, such an increase may be viewed as a disadvantage to such persons.

This provision in the Subscription Offering was in conformity with the Bank Board’s regulation which required that the plan of conversion shall:

Provide that the converting insured institution shall issue and sell its Capital Stock at a total price equal to the estimated pro forma market value of such stock in the converted insured institution, based on an independent valuation, as provided in Section 563b.7.

12 C.F.R. Section 563b.3(c)(1) (1983).

The Crafts, depositors in Florida Federal, received the subscription offering materials on May 10, 1983 and exercised their right by purchasing 18,386 shares. This amounted to less than three tenths of one percent of the estimated number of shares to be offered in the conversion and less than two tenths of one percent of the total shares actually sold in the conversion.

In accordance with the plan of conversion and the Bank Board’s regulations, Sections 563b.7 and 563b.3(c)(l), one of the conditions imposed in the Bank Board’s approval of the application for conversion of April 29, 1983, required that:

(3) Promptly after the completion of the sale of all of the shares of Capital Stock to be sold in connection with the conversion, the Association shall submit ...

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dougherty v. Carver Federal Savings Bank
909 F. Supp. 197 (S.D. New York, 1996)
Lovell v. One Bancorp
614 A.2d 56 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1992)
Strength v. Hubert
660 F. Supp. 878 (M.D. Alabama, 1987)
Craft v. Florida Federal Savings & Loan Association
786 F.2d 1546 (Eleventh Circuit, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
786 F.2d 1546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craft-v-florida-federal-savings-loan-assn-ca11-1986.