Federal Deposit Insurance v. Schreiner

892 F. Supp. 869, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13213, 1995 WL 379977
District Court, W.D. Texas·Decided June 23, 1995·No. Civ. SA-93-CA-674·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

ORDER ON THE MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OF DEFENDANTS SCHREINER, JOHNSTON, MOORE, PRIOUR, BARKER AND SMITH

SUTTLE, Senior District Judge.

Pending for resolution before the Court are the following motions:

1. Second Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendant Charles Schreiner, III, filed on December 16, 1994;
2. Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendant Raymond F. Barker, filed on December 16, 1994;
8. Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendant Charles H. Johnston, filed on December 15, 1994; 1
4. Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendant Jane Flato Smith, filed on January 5, 1995; 2 and
5. Motion for Summary Judgment, or in the alternative, for Partial Summary Judgment of Defendant Jasper Moore, Jr., filed on December 28, 1994. 3

Pursuant to an order granting it leave to do so, the FDIC filed a single response to the defendants’ motions on January 5,1995. Defendant Smith filed a reply to the FDIC’s response on January 17, 1995 as did defendant Moore. 4 The FDIC filed its surreply on January 25, 1995. Moore filed supplemental authority to his motion for summary judgment on January 27, 1995. Defendants Smith and Schreiner filed joinders in Moore’s supplemental authority on January 30 and 31, 1995, respectively.

I. Background

The Federal Deposit Insurance Company (“FDIC”) has brought this action against six 5 former directors and officers of Chas. Schreiner Bank (“CSB”), a state-chartered, federally insured bank located in Kerrville, Texas, and Ingram State Bank (“ISB”), a state-chartered, federally-insured bank in Ingram, Texas. The FDIC was appointed as receiver of CSB and ISB on April 19, 1990 and September 4, 1990, respectively. In its complaint, the FDIC asserts claims of gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duty *874 against the defendants for their acts and omissions as directors of CSB in approving, renewing, extending and consolidating loans made to Dale Priour and Ranchmen’s Wool and Mohair Export, Inc. (“RWME”), Ranch-men’s Wool and Mohair, Inc. (“RWMI”), Pri-our Varga Wool and Mohair (“PVWM”), L.D. Brinkman, LDB Corporation, and Dale El-more from 1980 to 1989 and the upstreaming of dividends from CSB to its holding company, Schreiner Bancshares, Inc. (“SBI”) in 1988. 6 As to ISB, the FDIC claims that the defendants were grossly negligent and breached their fiduciary duties in permitting ISB to participate in the loans made by CSB to Priour and his related entities. The FDIC seeks to recover approximately $11,800,000 for losses allegedly suffered by CSB and ISB as a result of the defendants’ alleged misconduct.

II. Summary Judgment Standard

The Court has previously set out at length the standards by which a motion for summary judgment is reviewed. In a nutshell, summary judgment is appropriate when the movant can demonstrate that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that he/she is entitled to prevail as a matter of law. In determining whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, the evidence is viewed in a light most favorable to the non-movant. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 5.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

III. Defendants’ Arguments in Support of Summary Judgment

Defendants have raised the following arguments in support of their various motions for summary judgment:

1. The FDIC’s claims are barred by the Business Judgment Rule.
2. The FDIC’s claims are barred by Article 1302-7.06(B) of the Texas Miscellaneous Corporation Laws Act and Article 2.41D of the Texas Business Corporation Act.
3. The dividend payments added by the FDIC’s First Amended Complaint do not relate back to the Original Complaint.
4. There is no evidence of gross negligence by the defendants.
5. There is no evidence of breach of fiduciary duties by the defendants.
6. The dividends were authorized by Texas law.
7. Defendant Moore could not have been grossly negligent with respect to actions taken at board meetings which he did not attend due to health problems.
8. No separate damages are attributable to the renewals, extensions, or consolidations of the loans. 7

*875 IV. Arguments and Analysis

A No Evidence of Gross Negligence

The primary argument advanced by the defendants is that the FDIC simply has not come forward with any evidence that their actions rise to the level of gross negligence. The FDIC counters that it has created such an issue through the affidavit of William R. Carden and the bank records and minutes of the board of directors’ meetings it has attached as exhibits to its response. As explained below, this Court finds that the FDIC has introduced sufficient evidence to create the requisite issue of material fact regarding the defendants’ gross negligence to survive summary judgment disposition.

In his affidavit, Dr. Carden, the FDIC’s expert witness, states that, based on his review of the relevant documents and his experience as a lending officer, bank president, and banking consultant, he has arrived at the following opinion concerning the defendants’ conduct.

In my opinion the pattern of loans to H. Dale Priour and his related interests represent not only violations of Regulation 0 but gross negligence in credit underwriting in general. The loans and their numerous renewals were often made:
(1) in reliance upon outdated and inconsistent financial statements of H. Dale Priour;
(2) in the absence of a current financial statement of Bertha Priour;
(3) in reliance on unaudited, inadequate (management compilations), and outdated financial statements for Pri-our-Varga Wool & Mohair, Inc., Ranchman’s Wool & Mohair, Inc., and Ranchman’s Wool and Mohair Export, Inc.;

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Federal Deposit Insurance v. Schreiner, 892 F. Supp. 869, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13213, 1995 WL 379977 (W.D. Tex. 1995).

892 F. Supp. 869 (Federal Deposit Insurance v. Schreiner) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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