Federal Deposit Insurance v. British-American Corp.

726 F. Supp. 622, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16472, 1989 WL 146860
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 22, 1989
Docket89-303-CIV-5-BR
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 726 F. Supp. 622 (Federal Deposit Insurance v. British-American Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal Deposit Insurance v. British-American Corp., 726 F. Supp. 622, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16472, 1989 WL 146860 (E.D.N.C. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER

BRITT, Chief Judge.

On 2 August 1989, upon motion of plaintiffs, the court entered an order directing defendants to appear and show cause why certain assets in their control should not be declared fraudulently acquired and why plaintiffs are not entitled to injunctive relief. Defendant British-American Corporation (BAC) has filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and defendant British-American Insurance Company, Ltd. (BAICL) has filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. All matters have been fully briefed and depositions and other discovery materials have been presented to the court. A hearing was held in Wilmington, North Carolina, on 23 and 24 August 1989. Rulings are now appropriate.

I

The complaint alleges the following facts which are pertinent to the pending motions: 1

1. BAICL is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Prior to 5 May 1983 BAIC was duly authorized to carry on, and was carrying on, business in the Dominion of Fiji.

2. BAC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAICL, was organized under the laws of the State of North Carolina, and has its principal office and place of business in Raleigh, North Carolina. BAC is the successor corporation of a merger between BAC and British American International Corp. (BAIC) which, though organized under the laws of the State of Florida, had its principal office and place of business in Raleigh, North Carolina.

3. Wyoming National Bank (WNB) was a national bank located in Lovell, Wyoming, which was, on 24 June 1983, declared insolvent by the United States Comptroller of the Currency who appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) as its receiver.

4. Fort Lincoln Group, Inc. and two of its subsidiaries, Fort Lincoln Assurance Company (FLAC) and Fort Lincoln Life Insurance Company (FLLIC) (collectively, the Fort Lincoln Companies), were North Dakota corporations which are now insolvent. Plaintiff Gerald L. Bass has been appointed Receiver pendente lite of FLAC and FLLIC.

5. Anant Kumar Tripati (Tripati), a California resident but a citizen of the Dominion of Fiji, in 1983 organized a limited company under the laws of Fiji named Southwest Pacific Assurance Co., Ltd. (Southwest Pacific).

6. Prior to 1983 BAICL owned and was operating an insurance business in Fiji, as well as other places throughout the world other than the United States.

7. On 5 May 1983, BAICL entered into a contract with Milton R. Polland, an agent of Tripati, to sell its Fiji insurance business to Southwest Pacific for $2 million ($2,000,-000.00). On that same date the full purchase price was transferred from a FLLIC account in a California bank to BAICL. This $2 million had been obtained from WNB by fraud. The transfer was through a BAICL account in a New York bank.

8. Plaintiffs allege that the purported sale by BAICL of its FIJI insurance was void because it was not carried out in accordance with the laws of Fiji.

9. In 1984 FDIC obtained judgment, presumably in North Dakota, against the Lincoln Companies in excess of $5.7 million, over $5 million of which remains uncollected.

10. A prior action between the same parties in the United States District Court for the Central District of California was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. That decision was affirmed by the Ninth *625 Circuit Court of Appeals. FDIC v. British-American Insurance Co., Ltd., 828 F.2d 1439 (9th Cir.1987). Plaintiffs contend that the California action was dismissed because false affidavits were filed by the General Counsel and Chairman of the Board of Directors of BAICL. Those affidavits contained identical statements which said that BAICL “is a Bahamian corporation, with its principal office in Nassau, Bahamas, and approximately thirty (30) subsidiaries and branches located in thirty (30) different countries, none of which is in the United States.” (emphasis added). Dated September 1986, these affidavits are obviously in error as BAIC (the Florida subsidiary) was then in existence and was licensed to do business in North Carolina. Defendants contend that there is a typographical error in the affidavits and that the word “none” should read “one.”

11. Seeking to recover the $2 million, plaintiffs allege four counts in their complaint:

A. Count one. Under Rule 69 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and N.C. Gen.Stat. §§ 1-352 et seq., plaintiffs seek to proceed by way of supplemental proceedings to have the $2 million, plus accrued interest, applied toward satisfaction of its judgment.

B. Count two. Under the laws of California and North Carolina, plaintiffs seek to have the purported conveyance from BAICL to Southwest Pacific declared fraudulent and void.

C. Count three. Under a theory of unjust enrichment plaintiffs seek to set aside the conveyance.

D. Count four. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 and N.C.Gen.Stat. § 1-253, plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the transfer was illegal and invalid from its incipiency.

II

The following facts, gleaned from the depositions and other discovery documents, do not seem to be controverted:

1.BAICL was chartered in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in 1920. It has engaged in insurance and other businesses throughout the world, in its own name and through subsidiary corporations. Though permitted by its charter to do so, BAICL has never directly engaged in any business in the United States. BAICL is owned primarily by United States citizens with the McMillen Trust, established in 1925, owning controlling interest.

2. Prior to 1982 BAICL performed most of the technical and support services necessary for day-to-day operation through its regular employees at its corporate headquarters in Nassau. Although some of its employees in Nassau were Bahamians, the vast majority of its employees, and practically all of its employees who held highly-skilled positions, were not Bahamians and many of them were United States citizens.

3. At some time prior to 1982, the Bahamian government began to enforce laws and regulations designed to place more Bahamians in the work force. BAICL found itself under increasing pressure to hire more Bahamians, few, if any, of whom were qualified to do the highly skilled jobs, such as those in actuarial science and computer technology. In addition, the Bahamian government passed laws and adopted regulations making it difficult, if not impossible, for BAICL non-resident employees to own real property, including private dwellings. For these and other reasons, BAICL made the decision to have many of these important functions performed elsewhere.

4.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
726 F. Supp. 622, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16472, 1989 WL 146860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-deposit-insurance-v-british-american-corp-nced-1989.