Emch v. United States

470 F. Supp. 206, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12573
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMay 7, 1979
DocketCiv. A. No. 77-C-677
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 470 F. Supp. 206 (Emch v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Emch v. United States, 470 F. Supp. 206, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12573 (E.D. Wis. 1979).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

REYNOLDS, District Judge.

This is an action for damages arising out of the decline in value of stock held by the plaintiff Harold H. Emch in American Bankshares Corporation following the insolvency of its subsidiary, the American City Bank & Trust Company. Jurisdiction is alleged pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b) and 2671-2680, and, with respect to the fourth cause of action which is against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“F.D.I.C.”), pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 1819. The defendants are the United States of America, the Comptroller of the Currency, the F.D.I.C., and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The matter is presently before the Court on the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint. For the following reasons, the motion will be granted.

In his brief filed September 8, 1978, in opposition to the Government’s motion to dismiss, the plaintiff concedes at pages 1-2 that in a suit brought pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, the only proper party defendant is the United States, and with respect to the other three defendants he agrees to dismissal of all except the fourth cause of action, which is brought against the F.D.I.C. under 12 U.S.C. § 1819.

The fourth cause of action will also be dismissed. There is no dispute that it is a claim founded in tort. In Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. Citizens Bank & Trust Company of Park Ridge, Illinois, 592 F.2d 364 (7th Cir. 1979), the court stated at 371:

“ * * * we hold that the waiver of immunity from tort liability of a federal agency or governmental corporation such as FDIC is defined in the Federal Tort Claims Act, and that sue-and-be-sued authority [such as that set forth in 12 U.S.C. § 1819] does not permit suit outside that Act for torts excepted from the coverage of the Act. In so holding we align this circuit with the decisions of all the courts in other circuits that have addressed the question.”

The plaintiff in his first, second and third causes of action alleges that the defendant United States, its officers, agents, agencies, and employees were negligent in that they:

“(a) Failed to exercise reasonable care at the operational level of their activities in the regulation of the American City Bank and American Bank-shares Corporation.
“(b) Failed to exercise due care at the operational level in the regulation, investigation, testing and analysis of the financial condition and operations of the American City Bank and American Bankshares Corporation.
“(c) Permitted fraudulent and misleading reports to be issued to the shareholders of American Bankshares Corporation.
[208]*208“(d) Permitted and acquiesced in numerous fraudulent activities by the American City Bank and American Bankshares Corporation, and their officers, accountants and others associated or dealing with them.
“(e) Made numerous mistakes, errors and omissions in the course of examining the American City Bank and American Bankshares Corporation.”

(Complaint, paragraphs 7, 11, and 15.) The plaintiff further alleges that the negligence described was a proximate cause of the insolvency of the American City Bank and the loss in value of plaintiff’s stock in American Bankshares Corporation.

Section 2674 of Title 28 U.S.C. provides that the United States shall be liable in tort under the same circumstances and in the same manner as a private individual.

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Bluebook (online)
470 F. Supp. 206, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/emch-v-united-states-wied-1979.