First Federal Lincoln Bank v. United States

68 Fed. Cl. 602, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 344, 2005 WL 3074717
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in First Federal Lincoln Bank v. United States. Read the opinion of the Court — 60 Fed. Cl. 501
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided November 15, 2005·No. No. 95-518C·Published

Opinion

OPINION

MARGOLIS, Senior Judge.

Before the Court is defendant’s motion for summary judgment as to the damages claims in this Winstar-related case. See United States v. Winstar, 518 U.S. 839, 116 S.Ct. 2432, 135 L.Ed.2d 964 (1996). In First Federal Lincoln Bank v. United States, 58 Fed.Cl. 363, 364 (2003) (“First Federal IF), plaintiff, First Federal Lincoln Bank (“Lincoln”) alleged that the defendant, United States (the “government”), breached its contract with regard to transactions with three savings and loan associations by enacting the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”), Pub.L. 101-73, 103 Stat. 183. The Court held that a contract existed between Lincoln and the government with regard to one of the three mergers, and that the government was liable to Lincoln for damages that arose from the government’s breach of that contract. The Court also found that no contract existed between Lincoln and the government with regard to the other two mergers. See First Federal II, 58 Fed.Cl. at 370.

Plaintiff asserts two damages claims: a claim for lost profits resulting from the breach of contract, and a claim for the hypothetical cost of raising replacement capital. Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment with respect to both of plaintiffs damages claims. Defendant maintains that plaintiffs damages claims for lost profits that allegedly would have emerged from Lincoln in the absence of the breach, and for its hypothetical cost of replacing capital are both wholly speculative claims that bear no relationship to any damages that Lincoln could recover, and must be dismissed as a matter of law. In opposition, plaintiff contends that there are genuine issues of material fact in dispute that can only be resolved at trial.

BACKGROUND

The history and circumstances surrounding the 1980s savings and loan crisis and the enactment of FIRREA in 1989 have been extensively discussed and, therefore, will not be revisited here. See Winstar, 518 U.S. at 844-58, 116 S.Ct. 2432. This matter arises from Lincoln’s 1982 supervisory mergers with three other Nebraska thrifts: Great Plains Federal Savings and Loan Association of Falls City, Nebraska (“Great Plains”), TriFederal Savings and Loan Association of Wahoo, Nebraska (“Tri-Federal”), and Norfolk First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Norfolk, Nebraska (“Norfolk”).1 The three transactions generated a combined total of approximately $41 million in supervisory goodwill, which pursuant to the regulatory regime in existence at the time, Lincoln was permitted to record on its books for purposes of meeting its regulatory capital requirements.

Lincoln asserts that as a result of FIR-REA, it was forced to change its operating strategy from one of growth and expansion to one of contraction. After acquiring the thrifts, but before the enactment of FIR-REA, Lincoln contends that it had planned to grow throughout the 1980s and 1990s.2 The $30 million of unamortized supervisory goodwill eliminated by FIRREA represented approximately 41 percent of Lincoln’s total preFIRREA regulatory capital. Lincoln asserts that even though the regulations permitted it to continue to count a portion of the remaining goodwill over the five year phase-out [604]*604period to satisfy minimum core and risk-based capital requirements, it could not rely on this limited, short-term asset as regulatory capital to continue to implement its long-term growth and expansion strategy. Further, Lincoln contends that although it met all of the newly mandated regulatory capital mínimums in December 1989, it would not have been able to remain in capital compliance once the phasing out began of its remaining goodwill. Both the Office of Thrift Supervision (“OTS”) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) expressed concern over Lincoln’s ability to remain in compliance. The FDIC warned Lincoln that “an outside injection of capital may be necessary in order to maintain and achieve a level of tangible capital” higher than its “present level of capital protection,” which was “deemed to be inadequate.” Pl.’s Prop. Uncontrov. Facts at ¶ 50.

Lincoln contends that like many thrifts in danger of failing to meet capital requirements its two options were to reduce its assets or increase its capital. See e.g., California Federal Bank, F.S.B. v. United States, 245 F.3d 1342, 1350 (Fed.Cir.2001) (“Cal.Fed.I"). Thus, in the fall of 1990, Lincoln’s management decided to embark on a “shrink strategy” in order to continue to meet FIRREA’s capital requirements. Further, in its 1992 business plan, Lincoln proposed reducing its tangible assets from $1.15 billion to $1.07 billion by December 31, 1992. This plan, directly attributed to FIRREA and the elimination of goodwill, was “a turnaround in management philosophy ... [f]rom one of growth, branching and seeking merger acquisitions, aggressive marketing of both savings deposits and all types of lending, to one which plans reduction in size, closing branches, discontinuing equipment lending, agricultural lending, and income property lending.” Pl.’s Prop. Uncontrov. Facts at ¶ 77. By enacting its “shrink strategy,” Lincoln employed a number of strategies: it closed 24 branch offices in Nebraska, scaled back its marketing programs, and lowered deposit rates it paid to customers relative to its competitors.

By foregoing previously planned growth and reducing its size, Lincoln was able to increase its regulatory tangible capital from 2.42 percent as of June 30, 1990, to over 6 percent as of June 30, 1994. Id. at ¶ 97. In 1994, Lincoln’s management developed a five-year growth plan emphasizing renewed, yet controlled growth. Throughout 1995, Lincoln took various steps toward resuming its pre-breach growth strategy and its deposits began to grow again in fiscal year 1996, eventually reaching $1.001 billion by June 30, 2000. Id. at ¶ 100, 103. By this time, Lincoln asserts that it had only recovered 46 percent of the approximately $300 million of deposits it lost in the six years following the breach. Further, Lincoln contends that by 1996, it had not attracted any of the deposits it would have attracted if it had been able to continue to enjoy its pre-breach Nebraska growth market share.

Lincoln filed an action in this Court, claiming that it had a binding contract with the government, by which the government promised to allow Lincoln to use purchase accounting in connection with the three mergers and to allow Lincoln to amortize the goodwill created by the mergers over a 25-year period. Plaintiff alleged that the government breached that contract by enacting FIRREA. Defendant, on the other hand, claimed that it was merely acting in its regulatory capacity. A four-day trial was held on the issue of liability. After careful consideration, the Court found that a contract existed between Lincoln and the government with regard to the Great Plains transaction, and that no contract existed between Lincoln and the government with regard to the Tri-Federal and Norfolk transactions. First Federal II, 58 Fed.Cl. at 364.

DISCUSSION

I. Expectancy Damages

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First Federal Lincoln Bank v. United States, 68 Fed. Cl. 602, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 344, 2005 WL 3074717 (uscfc 2005).

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