First Bank & Trust v. Treme

262 So. 3d 1050
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 19, 2018
DocketNO. 18-CA-477
StatusPublished

This text of 262 So. 3d 1050 (First Bank & Trust v. Treme) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Bank & Trust v. Treme, 262 So. 3d 1050 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

MOLAISON, J.

*1052Warren G. Treme ("Treme"), a building contractor and former customer of First Bank and Trust ("First Bank"), appeals a judgment dismissing his claims for damages against the bank and its subsidiary, First Bank and Trust Community Development Corporation ("First Bank CDC"), under the anti-tying provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act, 12 U.S.C. § 1972 et seq. (the "anti-tying claims"), with prejudice after a jury trial. Treme asserted these claims in response to the bank's lawsuit against him for sums due on promissory notes. The bank's claims were resolved by a consent judgment and are not at issue in this appeal.

At the trial of his anti-tying claims, Treme maintained that the bank violated federal law by requiring him to continue providing construction services to First Bank CDC on community development projects as a condition or requirement for obtaining loans from the bank.1 The jury found the evidence insufficient to prove that a tying arrangement existed. The trial court dismissed Treme's claims with prejudice based on the jury verdict.

On appeal, Treme seeks to have the judgment of dismissal reversed. He claims the trial court committed reversible error in its instructions to the jury and contends the jury was clearly wrong in finding that no tying arrangement existed. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This lawsuit originated in 2006 with First Bank's collection efforts against Treme by executory process and a petition for a deficiency judgment. Treme answered the petition and filed a reconventional demand against the bank and third party demands against First Bank CDC and Joseph C. Canizaro, the bank's chairman, asserting claims for breach of contract, fraud, fraudulent inducement, illegal tying, extortionate banking transactions, and breach of fiduciary duty. Canizaro was dismissed from the lawsuit by summary judgment, which this Court affirmed in First Bank and Trust v. Treme, 13-168 (La. App. 5 Cir. 10/30/13), 129 So.3d 605.

In a 2009 judgment on exceptions, the trial court sustained an exception of prescription as to some of Treme's illegal tying claims, which involved bank loans and construction contracts spanning the period 1996-2005. Noting that anti-tying claims must be brought within four years of when the alleged violation occurred, the trial court found that claims arising from *1053contracts executed before July 28, 2002, were prescribed. 12 U.S.C. § 1277.

In August 2017, First Bank and Treme entered into a consent judgment in the bank's favor for over $2 million in principal, interest and attorney fees owed by Treme on promissory notes. The consent judgment recognized Treme's right to offset this indebtedness by any amount that may be awarded to him on his demands against First Bank and First Bank CDC.

By the time of the jury trial in 2017, Treme's only remaining claims against First Bank and First Bank CDC were the anti-tying claims. At trial, Treme limited his damage claims to contracts executed after July 28, 2002, in accordance with the trial court's ruling on the prescription exception. However, the court allowed the parties to introduce evidence of contracts executed before that date to provide a complete narrative to the jury about the relationships between the parties, which began with the earlier contracts, and to provide context for references to the earlier contracts in the evidence concerning non-prescribed claims.2

ANTI-TYING LAW

Treme's claims against First Bank and its subsidiary, First Bank CDC, are founded on the following provisions in the Bank Holding Company Act, 12 U.S.C. § 1972(1)(C) and (1)(D) :

(1) A bank shall not in any manner extend credit, lease or sell property of any kind, or furnish any service, or fix or vary the consideration for any of the foregoing, on the condition or requirement-
(C) that the customer provide some additional credit, property, or service to such bank, other than those related to and usually provided in connection with a loan, discount, deposit, or trust service; [or]
(D) that the customer provide some additional credit, property, or service to a bank holding company of such bank, or to any other subsidiary of such bank holding company[.]

The trial court instructed the jury that the plaintiff in an anti-tying claim must prove three things: (1) that the bank extended credit or made a loan to a borrower with a requirement or condition that the borrower obtain or provide some service to the bank or its subsidiary; (2) that the arrangement is considered unusual; and (3) that the bank received a benefit from the arrangement.

Without objection, the jury was instructed as follows:

A claim made under the Bank Holding Company Act requires proof that the extension of credit was conditioned on the bank's customer obtaining some other product or service from the bank or one of its subsidiaries. The term "conditioned" or "required" means that something was demanded or required as a prerequisite to the loan. What is required here is proof that the bank conveyed its intention to withhold credit unless the borrower fulfilled a prerequisite of purchasing or furnishing some additional product or service other than repayment of the loan. Further, that additional product or service must be shown to be a tying arrangement which actually benefited the bank.

During its deliberations, the jury used a verdict form with questions concerning each element of proof in the case. By a vote of 9-3, the jury answered "No" to the first question: "Do you find by a preponderance of the evidence that a tying arrangement(s)

*1054existed between Warren G. Treme and First Bank and Trust?" The jury did not answer the other questions in the verdict form.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

First Bank CDC, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Bank and Trust, coordinated community development projects involving blighted homes in New Orleans by assisting property owners with hiring architects and contractors and obtaining financing to renovate their property. During the construction phase, funding came primarily from sales of tax credits to investors and from community development block grants. Once the renovations were completed, the owner could obtain a bank loan.

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Bluebook (online)
262 So. 3d 1050, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-bank-trust-v-treme-lactapp-2018.