Fifth Third Bank v. United States

52 Fed. Cl. 637, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 142, 2002 WL 1299995
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided June 12, 2002·No. No. 95-503C·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

ORDER

MILLER, Judge.

Before the court is Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration of the April 12, 2002 Ruling. Defendant charges that the court erred in finding that defendant had abandoned the issue of authority and in concluding that the issue had been resolved by binding precedent. Argument is deemed unnecessary.

United States v. Winstar Corp., 518 U.S. 839, 116 S.Ct. 2432, 135 L.Ed.2d 964 (1996), is the predicate for this case, the facts of which are set forth in Fifth Third Bank of W. Ohio v. United States, 52 Fed.Cl. 264 (2002).

The court welcomes motions for reconsideration or clarification in the endeavor to correct errors within the least amount of time and at the least effort to the parties and their counsel. Nevertheless, “motions for reconsideration should not be entertained ‘upon [639]*639the sole ground that one side or the other is dissatisfied with the conclusions reached by the court, otherwise the losing party would generally, if not always, try his case a second time, and litigation would be unnecessarily prolonged.’ ” Seldovia Native Ass’n Inc. v. United States, 36 Fed.Cl. 593, 594 (1996) (quoting Roche v. District of Columbia, 18 Ct.Cl. 289, 290 (1883)). This showing, under RCFC 59, must be based upon manifest error of law or mistake of fact and is not intended to give an unhappy litigant an additional chance to sway the court. Seldovia, 36 Fed.Cl. at 594; Aerolease Long Beach v. United States, 31 Fed.Cl. 342, 376 (1994), aff'd, 39 F.3d 1198, 1994 WL 572795 (1994) (unpublished table decision). To sustain its burden, the movant must show that an intervening change in the controlling law has occurred, that previously unavailable evidence is now available, or that the motion is necessary to prevent manifest injustice. Seldovia, 36 Fed.Cl. at 594; Aerolease, 31 Fed.Cl. at 376.

In its April 12 opinion denying the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, the court limited itself to the issue of the parties’ mutual intent to contract. Fifth Third, 52 Fed.Cl. at 269. In a footnote, the court observed:

Defendant appears to have abandoned an earlier challenge to the authority of [the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati (“FHLB-Cincinnati”)] to make promises regarding regulatory accounting. It is clear that FHLB-Cincinnati had authority to approve transactions in which goodwill would be included in assets in order to satisfy regulatory capital. Delegation of Authority Regarding Merger Approvals, 47 Fed.Reg. 8152 (1982). While the court is not aware of any express contractual authority similar to that relied on by Winstar, 518 U.S. at 890-91, 116 S.Ct. 2432 (citing 12 U.S.C. § 1729(f) (1989)), the Federal Circuit emphatically ruled on this issue in Cal. Fed. Bank, FSB v. United States (“CalFed”), 245 F.3d 1342, 1347 (Fed.Cir.2001). See also CalFed, 39 Fed.Cl. 753, 776-77 (1997).

Fifth Third, 52 Fed.Cl. at 269 n. 9. The court therefore determined: (1) that defendant had abandoned an earlier challenge to FHLB-Cincinnati’s authority, and (2) that such a challenge nonetheless was precluded by the Federal Circuit’s decision in CalFed. Two months’ hindsight and defendant’s relentless efforts to win a Winstar case on liability as a matter of law — in the face of upsetting a decision that all liability issues must be tried — persuade the court that these rulings cannot stand.

1. Abandonment

Plaintiffs “Short Form” Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Liability was filed on April 2, 1998. Defendant’s Supplemental Opposition to Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Cross-Motion To Dismiss and for Summary Judgment Regarding Liability was filed on October 10, 2000. In its cross-motion, defendant challenged the authority of FHLB-Cincinnati to enter into any contract with plaintiff. Defendant addressed this issue again in its January 16, 2001 reply. Although the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in CalFed on April 3, 2001, defendant declined to address the issue and the impact of CalFed in its May 8, 2001 sur-rebuttal and in its February 25, 2002 supplemental brief.1

Because the last mention of defendant’s authority argument occurred over a year ago, and did not appear in either of defendant’s more recent submissions, the court concluded that defendant appeared to have abandoned it. As defendant points out in its motion for reconsideration, however, it was not obliged to repeat the argument in its May 8, 2001 surrebuttal. Similarly, although the court is surprised that defendant did not raise the [640]*640issue in its supplemental brief — if for no other reason than to distinguish CalFed with the arguments it now raises in its motion for reconsideration — defendant was not obliged to raise or lose any argument in its supplemental brief. The court therefore erroneously concluded that defendant had abandoned its argument as to FHLB-Cincinnati’s authority. The issue was properly before the court by virtue of defendant’s cross-motion and reply. Failure to correct this error will result in a manifest injustice for two reasons that perhaps are unique to the Winstar maelstrom: First, because the briefing of these issues has been fractured, the history of what thrusts and parries were made at what time should not affect the parties’ fundamental rights to litigate the issues. Second, the Federal Circuit’s opinion in CalFed is a palimpsest with respect to Chief Judge Smith’s decision in CalFed. See Fifth Third, 52 Fed.Cl. at 275-76. In such circumstances it would be unfair not to consider all legitimate legal arguments that help the court apply the correct law to the facts.

2. The Federal Circuit’s decision in CalFed

The court’s April 12 opinion also concluded that the Federal Circuit had resolved the issue of FHLB-Cincinnati’s authority in favor of plaintiffs.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in Winstar, and over the Government’s objection, Chief Judge Smith consolidated four “sample” cases in order to consider recurring liability issues in one proceeding. See CalFed, 39 Fed.Cl. at 754-56. After extensive briefing and extended oral argument, the court issued a ruling on 12 issues common to California Federal Bank, FSB v. United States (92-138C), Landmark Land Co. v. United States (95-502C), LaSalle Tai-man Bank, FSB v. United States (92-652C), and Suess v. United States (90-918C). Issue Number 10 in CalFed was framed, as follows:

Where a capital contract was made between a thrift acquiror and a [Federal Home Loan Bank Board (“FHLBB”) ] Principal Supervisory Agent (“PSA”) located at a regional Federal Home Loan Bank rather than with a Bank Board official geographically located at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, no contract can exist per se because no Principal Supervisory Agent had authority to make such a contract with a thrift acqui-ror.

Id.

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Fifth Third Bank v. United States, 52 Fed. Cl. 637, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 142, 2002 WL 1299995 (uscfc 2002).

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