First Annapolis Bancorp, Inc. v. United States

72 Fed. Cl. 369, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 247, 2006 WL 2431378
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided August 23, 2006·No. No. 94-522C·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER SUSTAINING PLAINTIFF’S OBJECTION TO HEARSAY

WILLIAMS, Judge.

As in many Winstar cases, Plaintiff claims that the passage of the Federal Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) breached its contract with the Government because the Act prohibited it from treating goodwill as capital which counted toward its regulatory capital requirements and from meeting relaxed capital benchmarks. This Winstar ease departs from the mainstream somewhat in that Defendant claims Plaintiff committed a prior material breach of the contract by making loans to shareholders to purchase stock in the institution.1 Because a prior material breach would preclude Plaintiffs recovery, the Court conducted an initial trial limited to this issue.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs objections to hearsay elicited during the trial on prior material breach.2 Plaintiff claims that testimony from shareholders recounting statements of a deceased attorney, Edward O. Wayson, regarding the solicitation of shareholder loans are hearsay and must be stricken from the record. Specifically, Plaintiff objects to statements made by Mr. Wayson to potential shareholders regarding the investment and his role at First Annapolis.3 Defendant argues that because Mr. Wayson was an agent of Plaintiff, his statements are admissions of a party opponent and not hearsay. Federal Rule of Evidence (Fed.R.Evid.) 801(d)(2)(D).

During trial, the Court deferred ruling on Plaintiffs objections until hearing all the evidence with regard to agency.4 Because Defendant failed to prove that Mr. Wayson was an agent or subagent of Bancorp with respect to shareholder loans, his out-of-court statements are not admissions by Bancorp and are inadmissible.5

Background6

The Conversion and Merger

First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Annapolis (First Federal) was a savings [371] and loan institution in Annapolis, Maryland. In order to recapitalize, First Federal converted from a federal mutual savings and loan association to a stock savings bank and then merged into the newly formed federal stock savings bank, First Annapolis Savings Bank, F.S.B. (First Annapolis). Plaintiff, First Annapolis Bancorp, Inc. (Bancorp), was formed for the purpose of acquiring the stock of the merged institutions, thereby infusing capital into the converted thrift.

Bancorp alleges that a contract was formed when First Federal applied for the voluntary conversion and Defendant agreed to the amortization of goodwill7 and modified regulatory capital requirements for the resulting institution. Bancorp contends that the enactment of FIRREA breached this agreement by no longer honoring relaxed capital benchmarks and disallowing goodwill to be counted as capital, thereby causing First Annapolis to fail to meet its capital requirements and eventually to go into receivership.

Edward O. Wayson’s Relationship with Bancorp and the Shareholders in 1988

In 1988, Mr. Wayson’s law firm, Blumenthal, Wayson & Offutt, was general counsel to First Federal, but the firm’s representation of the bank was limited to real estate work. Tr. at 402. Mr. Offutt performed approximately 90% of the firm’s legal work for First Federal, handling real estate settlements. Id. Douglas Parran, a Director and Executive Vice President of both First Federal and Bancorp, testified that at the time of the conversion and shortly before, Mi’. Way-son was general counsel to First Federal “in the fact that he handled loan settlements” for the bank. Id. at 340. There is no evidence that Mr. Wayson performed any other type of legal work for First Federal at this time. Another unrelated law firm represented First Federal in the conversion. Id. at 324-25, 339-40. Anchor Brokerage Services, a subsidiary of First Annapolis “acted as the broker for the conversion in the sale of Ban-corp stock.” Id. at 353; see id. at 352.

Mr. Wayson was also “one of the original investors” in Bancorp. Id. at 341. As of August 19, 1988, Mr. Wayson owned 750,000 shares of Bancorp representing approximately 5.29% of ownership. DX 171.

Many of the shareholders knew Mr. Way-son outside of First Federal and had participated in other investments with him. Shareholder Paul Jones testified that he was a good friend of Mr. Wayson in 1988 and that they had practiced law together in the past. Tr. at 231, 236. Broughton Earnest, another shareholder, testified that Paul Jones and Mr. Wayson were “both social and business friends” and that “Ed [Wayson] had participated in investments with Paul Jones ... [and] one of those investments ... that Ed Wayson had brought to Paul and Paul, in turn, had brought to his partners, including myself.” Tr. at 283-84. David Thompson, a shareholder and law partner of Paul Jones, testified that Mr. Wayson “was a long-time client and ... a social friend of [Paul Jones]” in 1988. Deposition of David Thompson (Thompson Dep.), June 14,2006 at ll.8 Bancorp’s Methods of Raising Capital

In order to raise capital for Bancorp to buy the stock of First Annapolis, the Board of Directors of Bancorp and First Federal at one point planned to work out an agreement whereby National Capital Group/Continental Financial (Confín) would be a majority shareholder in Bancorp. Joint Exhibit (JX) 25 at PFA 011 1856-57. At a meeting of the First Federal Board of Directors on May 18, 1988, “Mr. Parran informed the board that there [were] alternatives to proceeding with the majority stockholder in the conversion. Mr. Wayson, Mr. Blumenthal’s law partner, could raise 5 to 7.5 million needed, but it would take additional time and there [would be] unknowns that come with that extended time.” DX 113 at WOQ 396 0554.

At a joint meeting of the Boards of Directors of Bancorp and First Federal on June 22, 1988, the Boards decided that a majority shareholder would “not provide the [372] necessary level of protection for the minority stockholders to ensure their participation in the stock offering.” Id. at PFA Oil 1857.9 Accordingly, the Board passed a resolution limiting the investment of any one entity in the total offering of Bancorp stock to no more than 9.9 percent. Id. at PFA Oil 1859.

After the Board chose not to have a majority shareholder, Bancorp had to continue to raise money for the conversion. Mr. Parran testified:

Q. How did Bancorp at that point in time plan to raise the funds if not through selling a large block of stock to Continental Financial Holdings?

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First Annapolis Bancorp, Inc. v. United States, 72 Fed. Cl. 369, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 247, 2006 WL 2431378 (uscfc 2006).

72 Fed. Cl. 369 (First Annapolis Bancorp, Inc. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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