D. Nelsen & Sons, Inc. v. Federal Deposit Insurance

440 F. Supp. 1000, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13484
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedOctober 13, 1977
DocketNo. 77 C 1395
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 440 F. Supp. 1000 (D. Nelsen & Sons, Inc. v. Federal Deposit Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D. Nelsen & Sons, Inc. v. Federal Deposit Insurance, 440 F. Supp. 1000, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13484 (N.D. Ill. 1977).

Opinion

[1001]*1001MEMORANDUM OPINION

MAROVITZ, Senior District Judge.

Motion to Change Venue

Plaintiffs D. Nelsen & Sons, Incorporated, and Daniel B. Nelsen, Jr., bring this action against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as the insurer of deposits and receiver of the failed United States National Bank, San Diego, California, California (“USNB”), against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“Comptroller”) as regulator of the USNB prior to its failure and against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2671, et seq. Plaintiffs seek, inter alia, $325,000 in monetary damages, allegedly resulting from “arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional” actions taken by the FDIC upon the failure of the USNB.

Pending before the Court is defendants’ motion to transfer the case from the Northern District of Illinois to the Southern District of California, the district of allegedly proper venue under 12 U.S.C. § 94, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). Alternatively, defendants ask that the case be transferred to the Southern District of California “in the interest of justice,” pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). For the reasons set forth below, defendants’ motion is granted.

In April, 1971, plaintiffs and certain third parties were involved in litigation in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. At that time, the USNB issued a letter of credit (No. 70-236) to take the place of other security impounded by order of the Circuit Court. The letter of credit was made payable to the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County upon the entry of a certain order favorable to plaintiffs. The letter was filed with the Court on April 23, 1971, pursuant to a court order. On July 23, 1976, an order of the Circuit Court was entered, directing payment of proceeds from the credit to plaintiffs, making USNB’s obligation thereunder due and payable.

In October, 1973, in what was then the largest bank failure in this country’s history, defendant Comptroller closed the USNB and appointed defendant FDIC as its receiver. Rather than liquidate and pay the insured deposits of the USNB, the FDIC chose to finance an agreement whereby the bank offering the highest premium through competitive bidding would purchase the saleable assets of USNB and assume certain of its liabilities. In addition, the FDIC authorized itself as receiver to enter into such an agreement. See 12 U.S.C. § 1823(e-l).

After the closing of the USNB, several holders of letters of credit brought suit in the Southern District of California, the home district of the USNB, alleging that their letters were improperly treated in that they were neither assumed nor paid by the highest bidding bank. The USNB transaction was also challenged in the District Court for the District of Columbia, but those actions were transferred to the Southern District of California upon motion of the FDIC.

In a flurry of litigation, five actions arguably similar to the case at bar were filed in the Southern District of California, five, related actions against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act were filed in Washington, D. C. and stayed pending the outcome of the California litigation, and five cases in which letters of credit were paid, leaving a question of whether the FDIC owed additional interest, were also filed in the Southern District of California.

When plaintiffs were denied payment by the FDIC on their letter of credit, they filed this action on April 22, 1977. Plaintiffs allege the venue is proper in this Court under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391(b) and 1402(b). Complaint, ¶ 8. Defendants move to transfer this action, arguing that the venue provision of the National Bank Act, 12 U.S.C. § 94, requires actions brought against the USNB to be brought in the Southern District of California. Defendants do not seek to have this cause dismissed for improper venue. See 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a).

[1002]*100212 U.S.C. § 94, Venue of Suits, reads as follows:

Actions and proceedings against any association under this chapter may be had in any district or Territorial court of the United States held within the district in which such association may be established, or in any State, county, or municipal court in the county or city in which said association is located having jurisdiction in similar cases.

Courts have repeatedly held that venue provisions of 12 U.S.C. § 94 are mandatory, not permissive. Mercantile National Bank at Dallas v. Langdeau, Receiver, 371 U.S. 555, 558-59, 83 S.Ct. 520, 9 L.Ed.2d 523 (1963); National Bank of North America v. Associates of Obstetrics, 425 U.S. 460, 461, 96 S.Ct. 1632, 48 L.Ed.2d 92 (1976) (per curium). It is undisputed here that the FDIC as receiver may claim the benefits of the venue provisions which are applicable to the insolvent USNB. See, TPO Inc. v. FDIC, 325 F.Supp. 663, 664-665 (S.D.N.Y.1971). It is further undisputed that federal courts have consistently interpreted 12 U.S.C. § 94 to require that lawsuits against a national bank be brought in the district where the bank may be established. 1 J. Moore, Federal Practice, ¶ 0.144[2.-1] (2d Ed. 1977).

Plaintiffs, in line with some treatise writers, (See e. g., Note, An Assault on the Venue Sanctuary of National Banks, 34 Geo.Wash.L.Rev. 765 (1966); 15 C. Wright A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 3813 (1976)), invite this Court to escape from the arguably anachronistic venue provisions of 12 U.S.C. § 94. Given the facts in the case at bar, however, the Court is reluctant to deviate from the well worn path.

Plaintiff cites two possible results of an application of 12 U.S.C. § 94 which may give a court impetus to circumvent the statute. We note first that this is not a case in which the plaintiff is disadvantaged by the inability to “join two national banks in the same action . . Wright, Miller & Cooper, supra.

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Bluebook (online)
440 F. Supp. 1000, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/d-nelsen-sons-inc-v-federal-deposit-insurance-ilnd-1977.