Empire State Bank v. Citizens State Bank

932 F.2d 1250, 1991 WL 74156
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMay 10, 1991
DocketNo. 90-5255
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 932 F.2d 1250 (Empire State Bank v. Citizens State Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Empire State Bank v. Citizens State Bank, 932 F.2d 1250, 1991 WL 74156 (8th Cir. 1991).

Opinions

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) appeals from the decision of the District Court1 remanding this action to state court. Appellate jurisdiction is based upon 12 U.S.C.A. § 1819(b)(2)(C) (West 1989). We affirm.

In September 1983, Empire State Bank, a Minnesota banking corporation (Empire), purchased from Citizens State Bank of Ful-da, Minnesota (Citizens), a $200,000 participation interest in loans made by Citizens to Duane Sather (Sather). Empire renewed this participation in March 1984. Empire’s renewed participation interest, like the original one, is evidenced by a document entitled “Certificate of Participation Pro Rata” and signed on behalf of Citizens by one of its officers. In February 1985, the Minnesota Commissioner of Commerce declared Citizens insolvent, closed it, and appointed the FDIC as its receiver. The FDIC then initiated court action against Sather and eventually collected a substantial amount of money. It also filed claims under Citizens’ banker’s blanket bond and its excess employee dishonesty blanket bond, both which were issued by Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company (Hartford). Those claims were settled, with the FDIC receiving a substantial payment from Hartford.

In August 1989, Empire filed a proof of claim with the FDIC, asserting that Empire had an interest in the monies recovered from Sather and Hartford. Following what Empire took as the FDIC’s denial of this claim,2 Empire, seeking a recovery based on state-law rights assertedly flowing from its participation in Citizens’ loans to Sather, initiated a state court action against the FDIC. The FDIC removed the action to the District Court.

Empire then moved for remand3 to state court pursuant to 12 U.S.C.A. § 1819(b)(2)(D) (West 1989), which provides that:

Except as provided in subparagraph (E), any action—
(i) to which the Corporation, in the Corporation’s capacity as receiver of a State insured depository institution by the exclusive appointment by State authorities, is a party other than as a plaintiff;
(ii) which involves only the preclosing rights against the State insured depository institution, or obligations owing to, depositors, creditors, or stockholders by the State insured depository institution; and
(iii) in which only the interpretation of the law of such State is necessary, shall not be deemed to arise under the laws of the United States.

12 U.S.C.A. § 1819(b)(2)(D) (West 1989). In response, the FDIC argued that as Empire’s lawsuit asserted claims upon monies collected by the FDIC after the closing date of Citizens, Empire’s claims thus did not involve only “preclosing rights.”4 The FDIC also argued that Empire's claim against the Hartford bond proceeds was barred by 12 U.S.C.A. § 1823(e) (West 1989), and consequently that the case presented an issue of federal law making remand inappropriate.5

[1248]*1248The District Court granted Empire’s motion for remand. In doing so, it held that Empire’s claims involved only “preclosing rights” since the “rights the plaintiff seeks to vindicate ... are based on a participation purchased September 28, 1983, and renewed March 28, 1984, both of which dates obviously fall prior to the closing of [Citizens].” Brief for FDIC, Add. A at 6 (Memorandum and Order). The court also held that section 1823(e) did not bar Empire’s claim against the Hartford bond proceeds since Empire’s claim does not depend upon “secret” or unwritten agreements with Citizens but rather is “that it has an equitable right under a ‘trust fund’ theory pursuant to state receivership law to a preferred claim to a proportionate share of those proceeds by virtue of the written participation agreement.” Brief for FDIC, Add. A at 8-9 (Memorandum and Order) (emphasis in original.)

In this appeal from the District Court’s order remanding the case to state court, the FDIC contends that the remand was erroneous because Empire’s claim upon the bond proceeds does not involve only “preclosing rights” as required by section 1819(b)(2)(D)(ii). It reasons that any equitable claim that Empire might have upon the Hartford bond proceeds could only have come into existence after the FDIC recovered on the bonds, which occurred after the FDIC took over Citizens. We disagree.

All the asserted rights Empire is seeking to vindicate in this suit flow directly, as a matter of state law, from the participation agreement executed by Empire and Citizens in 1983 and renewed in 1984. As Citizens was not closed until 1985, the District Court was correct in its conclusion that whatever rights Empire may have by reason of the participation agreement are “preclosing rights.”

The FDIC also contends that remand was inappropriate as it has raised a federal defense under section 1823(e) to Empire’s claim upon the bond proceeds, and any resolution of the suit necessarily would require a resolution of this issue. Because remand pursuant to section 1819(b)(2)(D) is improper unless resolution of the claim requires only interpretation of state law, the FDIC concludes that the remand under section 1819(b)(2)(D) was erroneous. Again, we disagree.

We believe that Congress intended for section 1819(b)(2)(D) to have some effect. See Zeigler Coal Co. v. Kleppe, 536 F.2d 398, 406 (D.C.Cir.1976) (“a statute should not be construed in such a way as to render certain provisions superfluous or insignificant”). But to accept the FDIC’s reasoning regarding its section 1823(e) defense would render section 1819(b)(2)(D) entirely superfluous, for the FDIC always has the ability to assert that it has a federal defense based on section 1823(e). We therefore reject the position of the FDIC. A more reasonable interpretation of section 1819(b)(2)(D) is that remand is inappropriate by virtue of subpart three of that section only where the court must decide a “disputable issue of federal law.” Perini Corp. v. FDIC, 754 F.Supp. 235, 238 (D.Mass.1991). Adopting that approach, we are satisfied that here the FDIC’s section 1823(e) defense does not present a “disputable issue of federal law” and that whether Empire’s claims stand or fall is wholly dependent upon state law.

Empire’s claims with respect to the bond proceeds would implicate section 1823(e) only if Empire was attempting to enforce an agreement that tended to “diminish or defeat the interest of the Corporation in any asset acquired by it” under sections 1821 or 1823. 12 U.S.C.A. § 1823(e) (West 1989). As the FDIC itself points out, the participation agreement that is the foundation of Empire’s claim is not addressed to the bonds or their proceeds. Rather, it reflects participation by Empire in Citizens’ loans to Sather. There is no off-the-books agreement tending to diminish the FDIC’s interest in the bonds, and it is only through equitable principles embodied in Minnesota law that Empire is able to assert a claim upon the bond proceeds. Thus Empire’s claim upon these proceeds is not based upon an “agreement tending to diminish or defeat the interest of the Corporation” within the meaning of section 1823(e).

Moreover, the participation agreement involved in this litigation is not the sort of agreement to which section 1823(e) is directed.

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Empire State Bank v. Citizens State Bank
932 F.2d 1250 (Eighth Circuit, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
932 F.2d 1250, 1991 WL 74156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/empire-state-bank-v-citizens-state-bank-ca8-1991.