Federal Deposit Ins. v. George-Howard

153 F.2d 591, 1946 U.S. App. LEXIS 3124
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 18, 1946
DocketNo. 13935
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 153 F.2d 591 (Federal Deposit Ins. v. George-Howard) 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
Federal Deposit Ins. v. George-Howard, 153 F.2d 591, 1946 U.S. App. LEXIS 3124 (8th Cir. 1946).

Opinion

JOHNSEN, Circuit Judge.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation brought suit in the District Court (a) for a determination of its right to interest, during the liquidation of a Missouri state hank, on the deposits which it had insured and paid under 12 U.S.C.A. § 264, 49 Slat. 6S4, and for which it had taken assignments and subrogation from the depositors ; and (b) for an order directing payment to it oí a fund, in the amount of such interest, which had been placed in escrow by the sole stockholder of the bank under an agreement with the Corporation, made after all other claims of creditors had been satisfied and when the Commissioner of Finance of Missouri was seeking to turn over a remaining surplus to the sole stockholder and to be discharged as statutory receiver, which provided that the escrow fund was to be security for the payment of the Corporation’s interest rights, if established, and was to be held “until a court of competent general jurisdiction shall render a final valid judgment making disposition of said fund and directing [the escrow holder] as to such disposition.” The suit was against the sole stockholder and the escrow holder.

The District Court dismissed the action, 55 F.Supp. 921, after trial, on the grounds (1) that the controversy was not one arising under the laws of the United States, within the meaning of section 24(1) (a) of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 41(1) (a), as a basis for federal jurisdiction; and (2) that, even if jurisdiction had thus existed, a federal court ought not to exercise it in the situation, for comity reasons, but should leave the controversy to be presented to the state circuit court which had supervised the liquidation. The Corporation has appealed.

We think the District Court was in error in each of these holdings.

As to the first holding, the statute creating the Federal . Deposit Insurance Corporation, after giving the Corporation power generally to “sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any court of law or equity, State or Federal”, further expressly provides, 12 U.S.C.A. § 264(j), Fourth, 49 Stat. 692, that “All suits of a civil nature at common law or in equity to which the Corporation [in its own capacity] shall be a party shall be deemed to arise under the laws of the United States.” This special provision reasonably can only mean that all such suits to which the Corporation is a party in its own capacity must legally be regarded as arising under the laws of the United States, within the jurisdiction granted to the federal District Courts by section 24(1) (a) of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. §41(1) (a).1

But, even without this express statutory provision, the suit still would have had to be regarded as one arising under the laws of the United States, within the settled jurisdictional meaning of section 24(1) (a) of the Judicial Code. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a federal corporation and is one in which the Government owns more than one-half of the capital stock. The Supreme Court has consistently held, from the early case of Osborn v. Bank of U. S. (as interpreted in the Pacific Railroad Removal Cases, Union Pac. R. Co. v. Myers, 115 U.S. 1, 5 S.Ct. 1113, 29 L.Ed. 319), 9 Wheat. 738, 22 U.S. [594]*594738, 6 L.Ed. 204, on down, that suits generally by or against federal corporations are suits “arising under the laws of the United States”, except as Congress may choose specifically to limit the meaning or application of that term. Thus, in Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Columbia v. Mitchell, 277 U.S. 213, 217, 48 S.Ct. 449, 451, 72 L.Ed. 854, the court said that, “in the absence of enactments plainly expressing that purpose, Congress will not be held to have intended to restrict that jurisdiction”, and again, 'in Gully v. First Nat. Bank in Meridian, 299 U.S. 109, 114, 57 S.Ct. 96, 98, 81 L.Ed. 70, in commenting on the consistent line of decision in such cases, that “within their special field there was no thought to disturb them.”

Congress has from time to time limited the general jurisdictional meaning of the term “arising under the laws of the United States” in its application to federal incorporation, which restricting statutes have been listed in the opinion in People of Puerto Rico v. Russell & Co., 288 U.S. 476, 485, 53 S.Ct. 447, 77 L.Ed. 903. The last of these statutes, enacted in 1925, 28 U.S. C.A. § 42, 43 Stat. 941, limits the jurisdictional meaning of section 24(1) (a) of the Judicial Code generally in this class of cases to “any suit, action, or proceeding brought by or against a corporation incorporated by or under an Act of Congress wherein the Government of the United States is the owner of more than one-half of its capital stock.”2 But suits by or against a federal corporation in which the Government owns more than one-half of the capital stock thus still constitute, within the doctrine of Osborn v. Bank of U.S., supra, 9 Wheat 738, 22 U.S. 738, 6 L. Ed. 204, suits arising under the laws of the United States, for jurisdictional purposes of section 24(1) (a) of the Judicial Code. Since, that was the situation in the present case and the amount in controversy exceeded the statutory requirement, the District Court had jurisdiction on this ground also. Cf. Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Columbia v. Mitchell, supra, 277 U.S. 213 at page 217, 48 S.Ct. 449, 72 L.Ed. 854; Gully v. First Nat. Bank in Meridian, supra, 299 U.S. 109 at page 113, 57 S.Ct. 96, 81 L.Ed. 70; 1 Moore’s Federal Practice 105; 1 Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure, 2d Ed., § 269.

As to the trial court’s second holding, we are unable on the facts of the situation to see any sound reason why a federal court should refuse to exercise jurisdiction for comity reasons. The Commissioner of Finance of Missouri had filed his final report as statutory receiver, with the state circuit court having supervisory jurisdiction of the liquidation, and had been permitted to be discharged. Instead of objecting to the discharge of the Commissioner as such receiver, on the ground that he had not satisfied the Corporation’s claim in full by the payment of interest on it as an inherent incident, and asking the state circuit court to direct the Commissioner to make such payment out of the surplus funds on hand, as it would seem that the Corporation could have done, the Corporation and the sole stockholder chose to enter into an agreement which deferred the settling of that question and left it a matter for litigation solely between themselves.

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Bluebook (online)
153 F.2d 591, 1946 U.S. App. LEXIS 3124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-deposit-ins-v-george-howard-ca8-1946.