European American Bank & Trust Co. v. United States

20 Cl. Ct. 594, 66 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5183, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 233, 1990 WL 82900
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJune 19, 1990
DocketNo. 135-82T
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 20 Cl. Ct. 594 (European American Bank & Trust Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
European American Bank & Trust Co. v. United States, 20 Cl. Ct. 594, 66 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5183, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 233, 1990 WL 82900 (cc 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

HARKINS, Senior Judge.

European American Bank and Trust Company (EAB or plaintiff), European American Banking Corporation, and European American Bankcorp are New York State banking corporations. Plaintiff is a full service bank, and a member of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). At all relevant times, EAB’s stock has been owned jointly by six European banks.

The complaint, initially filed on March 15, 1982, was a claim for income tax refunds for tax years 1973-79. The complaint was first amended on January 21, 1988, and a second amended complaint was filed November 20, 1989.

As amended, the complaint presents claims relative to two transactions: (1) issues related to plaintiff’s October 1974 agreement with the FDIC for the purchase of assets and assumption of liabilities of the insolvent Franklin National Bank (FNB); and (2) issues related to accrual of interest and principal on an oil production payment transaction with Standard Oil Company (Indiana) (S.O.Ind.) to finance the purchase of a working interest in the West Whitehead oil field in Garvin County, Oklahoma. The claim relative to the oil production payment was included in the January 21, 1988, first amended complaint, but pretrial preparation to that time had centered on the Franklin National Bank issues. By stipulation disposition of the new oil production payment claim was severed from the trial of the FNB issue.

Trial sessions on the FNB issue were held April 18-29, 1988, and further trial proceedings were scheduled. The parties were able to settle the FNB issues, and the scheduled trial sessions were not needed. Review and approval procedures on the settlement have not been completed, and as of May 17, 1990, the matter was pending.

Discovery on the oil production payment claim was undertaken by both parties, and extensive documentary information was secured. Defendant, on February 21, 1990, moved for partial summary judgment on the oil production payment claim, the only remaining claim. Defendant’s motion was supported by 882 documentary pages in 35 exhibits, plaintiffs opposition added 18 additional pages in four exhibits.

Discovery in this case has been adequate to establish all material facts that are relevant to issues in the oil production payment claim; further evidentiary proceedings would not be productive. The material facts are not in dispute and the income tax refund claims that arise from the Standard Oil Company (Indiana) transaction may be resolved as a matter of law. Disposition by the summary judgment procedure is appropriate.

The sole remaining claim, presented in paragraphs 123-126 in the first and second amendments to the complaint, is separate and distinct from the FNB claims that the parties have agreed to settle. In the circumstances, judgment pursuant to RUSCC 54(b) on this separate claim is appropriate.

I.

Standard Oil Company (Indiana) through its operating subsidiary Amoco Production Company (Amoco), in mid-1974 purchased from two sellers working interests in the West Whitehead oil field in Garvin County, Oklahoma. Amoco’s purchase amounted to an aggregate gross working interest of 49.7%; according to EAB’s record, the total consideration was $29,625,000. The West Whitehead field, which had been discovered in 1970, was not fully developed in mid-1974. The field operator, Lario Gas Company, owned a 50.1% working interest in the field, and Kerr-McGee Oil Company, by contract, was the purchaser of all of the oil and gas produced from the field.

Amoco’s purchases were financed through cash payments by Amoco of $9,875,000, and with ABC production payments that totaled $19,750,000, through loans from EAB. In the purchase, the sellers retained a right to 90 percent of the [596]*596net revenues of oil and gas sales, up to the principal amounts of the production payments.

In an ABC transaction, the owner of oil producing property conveys the interest in the oil field to the buyer by an agreement in which the seller retains part of the property in the form of a “production payment” that is to be financed through a transaction that involves a loan to a separate legal entity, a “shell” company. The production payment, which represents an interest in the oil and gas in the ground, by separate agreement is assigned to the shell company and the production from the field is allocated to that company in proportion to its ownership. In exchange for a loan, in the amount of the value of the production payment, the shell company makes a note to the lender in that amount, assigns a mortgage on the production payment as security for the loan, and assigns a portion of the monthly sales revenues on the oil produced, at a rate (dedication rate) sufficient to retire the loan to maturity.

In the West Whitehead purchase, the production payments and the loans were structured through three “shell” companies: Ibis Oil Company, Heron Oil Company and Rook Oil Company (for convenience these companies are referred to as the “Birds” and the three loans as “the Birds loans”). The Birds were distinct legal entities that were incorporated by an attorney for Amoco, with a nominal capitalization of $500. Initially, the stock of the Birds was held by a corporation called Stork Oil Company, which was owned by attorneys for Amoco. Subsequently, the Stork Oil Company was dissolved and its stock distributed to a partnership composed of attorneys for Amoco. The only significant assets of the Birds were the production payments. The sellers assigned the production payments to the Birds in exchange for payments that total $19,750,000. To pay the sellers, the Birds borrowed a total of $19,-750,000 from EAB, and dedicated the full amount of the production payments to repay the loans.

The first transaction (Ibis) was a purchase on July 9, 1974, for $15 million of a 25% gross interest less royalties (21.08% net interest) in the West Whitehead oil field. Amoco paid $5 million to the seller, and $10 million was paid in the form of a production payment loan from EAB to Ibis.

The second transaction was in two parts for a purchase for $14,625,000 of a 24.7% gross interest less royalties (20.9% net interest) in the West Whitehead oil field. Amoco paid a total of $4,875,000 to the seller. EAB made a production payment loan (Heron) on July 31, 1974, in the amount of $7,355,000. On October 8, 1974, EAB made a production payment loan (Rook) in the amount of $2,395,000. The total amount of the Birds loans was $19,-750,000.

The Birds loans had an interest rate set at V2 of 1 percent above either EAB’s best rate (to prime U.S. corporate borrowers) or the London Interbank Offered Rate (LI-BOR). The interest rate was at the same rate and on the same terms as the production payments. The interest rate and payment due date could be established in selected interest periods of one, three or six months. The amount due was computed on the unpaid balance outstanding for the selected period, including any unpaid (“capitalized”) interest.

The Birds loans were secured and payable only out of the production payments. The Birds loans were not secured by any assets of Amoco or of S.O.Ind.

Kerr-McGee’s payments for the West Whitehead oil production were by checks to Amoco. The checks were deposited in Amoco’s account at the National Bank of Tulsa. Payments of interest and principal to EAB on the Birds loans were made by transfer from Amoco’s account to EAB’s accounts of the Birds.

The Birds loans were the first oil production payment loans made by EAB.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 Cl. Ct. 594, 66 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5183, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 233, 1990 WL 82900, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/european-american-bank-trust-co-v-united-states-cc-1990.