First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Finnegan

19 F. Supp. 678, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1699
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJune 16, 1937
DocketNo. 2313
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 19 F. Supp. 678 (First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Finnegan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Finnegan, 19 F. Supp. 678, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1699 (W.D. Wis. 1937).

Opinion

STONE, District Judge.

1. The plaintiff, First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Wisconsin, is a corporation duly organized under and existing by virtue of section 5 of the Home Owners’ Loan Act of 1933 (12 U.S.C.A. § 1464 and note) with power and authority to transact the business authorized by said act, in-, eluding the right to lend its funds on the ■security of its shares and on the security of first liens upon homes, or combinations of homes and business property within the limitations of said section, to invest any portion of its assets in obligations of the United States, or the stock and bonds of a federal home loan bank, and to be employed as a fiscal agent of the government of the United States when properly designated for that purpose.

2. The defendant James E. Finnegan was, at the commencement of this action and until January 4, 1937, Attorney General of- the state of Wisconsin, residing in Milwaukee, Wis., in the Eastern District of Wisconsin; Peter A. Cleary, S. N. Schafer, and H. F. Ibach constituted the Banking Commission of the State of Wisconsin at the time this action was instituted, and still constitute the Banking Commission, except that S. N. Schafer has resigned and is no longer a member of said Commission.

3. Orland S. Loomis is the successor in office to James E. Finnegan, and is now the Attorney General of the state of Wisconsin, and has been substituted as a party defendant in place of James E. Finnegan.

4. The principal place o-f business of the plaintiff is Milwaukee, Wis.; that the defendants, S. N. Schafer and H. F. Ibach are citizens of the state of Wisconsin, residing in the Western District of Wisconsin; that the defendant Peter A. Cleary is a citizen of the state of Wisconsin, residing [679]*679in Milwaukee, Wis.; and that the office of the Attorney General is at the city of Madison in the Western District of Wisconsin.

5. The matter in controversy in this suit exceeds the sum of $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs; that the right and franchise of the plaintiff to do business as a federal savings and loan association in the state of Wisconsin has a value in excess of $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs; that the value of the business conducted by plaintiff and the good will thereof exceeds the sum of $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs; that the assets owned by the plaintiff exceed the sum of $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs.

6. This suit arises under the Constitution and laws of the United States and involves the construction, interpretation and validity of section 5 of the Home Owners’ Loan Act of 1933.

7. The United States owns fully paid income shares of the plaintiff with an aggregate par value of $275,000, and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, of which the capital stock is wholly owned by the United States, is tli.e owner of fully paid income shares of the plaintiff, with an aggregate par value of $150,000; and that the amount of stock owned by the United States and by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation is more than 51 per cent, of the total capital stock of the plaintiff.

8. After its incorporation plaintiff began and has since continued to transact business in Wisconsin, and now sustains contract relations with a large number of people in said state; that plaintiff has made mortgage loans on property located in Wisconsin, which on August 31, 1936, aggregated $1,169,485.84, and that it owned approximately 254 of such mortgages with an aggregate unpaid balance on said date of $1,-041,802.30; that the proceeds of some of said mortgages so made were used to pay and liquidate mortgages theretofore held by banks and other financial institutions upon the property covered by said mortgages ; that since its incorporation plaintiff has paid 4 per cent, per annum on its capital stock; that as of June 30, 1936, plaintiff had undivided profits of $4,073, and reserves of $3,308, and it now has undivided profits and reserves in excess of said amounts.

9. Defendants have publicly asserted that the plaintiff is unlawfully doing a building and loan business in the state of Wisconsin, and that it is acting' in Wisconsin as a corporation without being duly incorporated; defendants have further asserted that plaintiff is unlawfully usurping, holding, and exercising the franchise of, and engaging in the business of, and operating as a building and loan association, that plaintiff is without authority or right to transact said business or to do the acts and things which the plaintiff is transacting and ‘doing in the state of Wisconsin, that it is usurping a franchise grantable only by the state of Wisconsin, and that section 5 of said Home Owners’ Loan Act of 1933, pursuant to the provisions of which plaintiff has been incorporated, is unconstitutional and void; that defendant'will continue to make such public assertions unless enjoined from so doing.

10. Under the provisions of section 14.53 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Attorney General is authorized to appear for the state of Wisconsin and prosecute or defend all actions in which the state is interested or is a party, and, when requested by the Governor, to appear for the state and prosecute and defend any cause or matter in which the state of Wisconsin or the people thereof may be in anywise interested, and the Attorney General is authorized by section 294.04 of the Wisconsin Statutes to bring an action in the name of the state upon his own information or upon the. complaint of any private party, when any person shall usurp, intrude into, or unlawfully hold or exercise any public office, civil or military, or any franchise, within the state of Wisconsin; that the Banking Commission of Wisconsin has authority, pursuant to the laws of the state, to issue certificates of incorporation to building and loan associations, and has general supervision and control over the business of building and loan associations incorporated under the laws of the state of Wisconsin, including authority to require such building and loan associations to follow and observe the provisions of the Wisconsin Statutes with respect to building and loan associations.

11. The defendants, claiming to act by virtue of the authority vested in them by the statutes hereinbefore mentioned, have threatened to bring suits in the courts of the state of Wisconsin to prevent the plaintiff from transacting any business in the state of Wisconsin, claiming that said section 5 of the Home Owners’ Loan Act of [680]*680193.3 is unconstitutional and void, and claiming that the plaintiff is transacting business in the state without right or authority so to do; that the defendants filed in the Supreme Court of the state of Wisconsin, shortly before the institution of this action, an application praying for leave to institute an original suit in said court against the plaintiff, its officers and directors, claiming that the plaintiff has no right or authority to transact the business of a federal savings and loan association in the state of Wisconsin, and to bar and oust the plaintiff from exercising the rights and privileges which it possesses as a federal savings and loan association, organized as hereinbefore set forth pursuant to said section 5 of the Home Owners’ Loan Act of 1933.

12.

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Bluebook (online)
19 F. Supp. 678, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1699, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-federal-savings-loan-assn-v-finnegan-wiwd-1937.