Federal Savings & Loan Ins. v. Third Nat. Bank

60 F. Supp. 110, 1945 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2348
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedApril 5, 1945
DocketCivil Action No. 337
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 60 F. Supp. 110 (Federal Savings & Loan Ins. v. Third Nat. Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal Savings & Loan Ins. v. Third Nat. Bank, 60 F. Supp. 110, 1945 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2348 (M.D. Tenn. 1945).

Opinion

DAVIES, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on motion of defendant to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter.

The grounds of the court’s jurisdiction of the above cause is stated in the original complaint, as follows:

[112]*112“1. The plaintiff is a governmental corporation, created by an Act of Congress. Its capital stock is entirely owned by the United States through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. The status of the plaintiff corporation is the ground upon which this Count’s jurisdiction depends. * * jjí »

Defendant, in its answer, insists that this court is without jurisdiction for the reason that while plaintiff is a corporation created by an Act of Congress, its capital stock is not owned by the government of the United States, but is, in faot, owned by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, a separate corporation, the stock of which is in turn owned by the government of the United States; and that by reason of the provisions of Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 42, this court is without jurisdiction, the government of the United States not in fact being the owner of more than one-half of the capital stock of plaintiff.

Plaintiff was created under an Act of Congress of June 27, 1934, being Chapter 847, Section 402, 48 Stat. 1256, and appearing as Title 12 U.S.C.A. § 1725, providing, in part, as follows :

“(b) The Corporation shall have a capital stock of $100,000,000, which shall be divided into shares of $100 each. The total amount of such capital stock shall be subscribed for by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation which is hereby authorized and directed to subscribe for such stock and make payment therefor in bonds of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. The Corporation shall issue to the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation receipts for payment for or on account of such stock, which shall serve as evidence of the ownership thereof, and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation shall be entitled to the payment of dividends on such stock out of net earnings at a rate equal to the interest rate on such bonds, which dividends shall be cumulative.

“(c) On June 27, 1934, the Corporation shall become a b'ody corporate, and shall be an instrumentality of the United States,. and as such shall have power—

“(1) To adopt and use a corporate seal.

“(2) To have succession until dissolved by Act of Congress.

“(3) To make contracts.

“(4) To sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any court of law or equity, State or Federal.”

In support of its motion, defendant relies on the terms and provisions of the Act of February 13, 1925, Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 42, providing as follows:

“No district court shall have jurisdiction of any action or suit by or against any corporation upon the ground that it was incorporated by or under an Aot of Congress. This section shall not apply 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.”

Defendant insists that ownership of the capital stock of plaintiff by (the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation is not ownership thereof by the Government of the United States as contemplated by the terms and provisions of the statute above quoted, and therefore, plaintiff is not entitled to maintain its suit in this court.

Plaintiff insists that it is an instrumentality of the Government of the United States, was created by an Act of Congress and empowered to sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any court of law or equity, State or Federal, and that, by reason of the fact that the Government of the United States is the owner of the entire capital stock of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, that both the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and plaintiff are parts of the Government of the United States, and this suit is therefore a suit arising under the laws of the United States.

Until February 13, 1925, it was a well settled rule of law that a suit, for whatever reason, by or again'st a corporation created under an Act of Congress with power to sue or be sued in any count, State or Federal, was a suit arising under the laws of the United States. Under the decisions of the Supreme Court, the essence of those decisions is that such a suit arises under the laws of the United States, not because of the character of the suit, nor the relief demanded, but merely because the plaintiff suing or the defendant sued is a Federal Corporation with power to sue or be sued in any court, State or Federal. Osborn v. Bank of United States, 9 Wheat. 738, 6 L.Ed. 204; Union Pacific R. Co. v. Myers, 115 U.S. 1, 5 S.Ct. 1113, 29 L.Ed. 319.

On February 13, 1925, the statute above quoted, Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 42, was en[113]*113acted, distinctly changing the rule of law in effect up to that date.

The question now before the Court is whether or not the ownership of plaintiff’s stock by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation amounts to ownership by the Government of the United States. If so, the rule remains unchanged.

The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation was created by the Act of June 13, 1933, Title 12 U.S.C.A. § 1463, which provides that the stock of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation “shall be subscribed for by the Secretary of the Treasury on behalf of the United States, * * *. The Corporation shall issue to the Secretary of the Treasury receipts for payments by him for or on account of such stock, and such receipts shall be evidence of the stock ownership of the United States. * * * ”

The creation and legal existence of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation has been referred to and noticed by the courts on a number of occasions, and it is well settled that while said corporation is an. instrumentality of the Government of the United States, it is, at the same time, a properly organized corporation having complete corporate existence. Fletcher v. Jones, 70 App.D.C. 179, 105 F.2d 58; United States, ex rel. Fletcher v. Fahey, 73 App.D.C. 257, 121 F.2d 28. Congress, in creating instrumentalities of the Government for particular purposes, has resorted to the plan of creating separate corporations for these purposes. In the creation of some of these corporations, such as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, and Federal Intermediate Credit Banks, the Congress has provided that the stock in said corporations shall be subscribed for by the Secretary of the Treasury on behalf of the United States and payments made therefor paid from the Treasury, and receipts evidencing payments to be evidence of stock ownership of the United States.

Congress has created other instrumentalities of the Government without such direct ownership of stock by providing that corporations theretofore created by Congress should subscribe for such capital stock.

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Related

Federal Savings & Loan Ins. v. Third Nat. Bank
153 F.2d 678 (Sixth Circuit, 1946)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 F. Supp. 110, 1945 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2348, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-savings-loan-ins-v-third-nat-bank-tnmd-1945.