Golden Pacific Bancorp v. Federal Deposit Insurance

375 F.3d 196
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJuly 14, 2004
DocketDocket No. 03-6194
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 375 F.3d 196 (Golden Pacific Bancorp v. Federal Deposit Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Golden Pacific Bancorp v. Federal Deposit Insurance, 375 F.3d 196 (2d Cir. 2004).

Opinion

MARRERO, District Judge.

This -lawsuit arises from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (“FDIC”) June 1985 liquidation of the Golden Pacific National Bank (the “Bank”), which was based in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood. The Bank’s holding company, plaintiff Golden Pacific Bancorp (“Bancorp”), alleges that the FDIC- should never have liquidated,the Bank in the first place, and, to make matters worse, that the FDIC chose fhe most expensive liquidation method possible. Bancorp further alleges that the FDIC wastefully charged certain expenses to the receivership estate, and that, when the Bank’s creditors were .finally paid, the FDIC depleted the remaining estate by improperly paying itself interest on the insurance funds it had disbursed to depositors on the Bank’s behalf. Bancorp seeks to recover against the FDIC under theories of unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary- duty, and corporate waste. The District Court granted the FDIC summary judgment on all claims.

The primary issue on appeal is whether the FDIC, as subrogee to the claims of a failed bank’s FDIC-insured depositors, may collect post-insolvency interest on those claims from the failed bank’s estate. We hold that such interest payments are not improper. We also hold that Ban-corp’s evidence suggesting that the'- FDIC breached its fiduciary duties by choosing an expensive wind-up method is too speculative to defeat summary judgment. Finally, we hold that Bancorp lacks standing to pursue certain waste claims because the Bank’s outstanding obligations to a senior creditor, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), would preclude any potential recovery for Bancorp. Accordingly, the judgment of the District Court is affirmed.

I. BACKGROUND

On June 17,. 1985, officials from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) and the FDIC, acting upon an informant’s tip, conducted a surprise examination of the Bank for the purpose of scrutinizing certain custodial certificates- — ■ known for their color as “yellow CDs”-— which the Bank had been issuing to its customers. The Bank maintained that the yellow CDs were actually investments placed with the Bank as agent, as opposed to deposits (i.e., liabilities) of the Bank. The Bank also told OCC officials that, even if the yellow CDs were considered liabilities, they were backed by sufficient assets to maintain the Bank’s solvency. The OCC disagreed on both points, and, by the end of the week, closed the Bank and declared it insolvent.

The FDIC insured the Bank’s depositors, and the OCC appointed the FDIC also to serve as the Bank’s receiver. The FDIC’s dual roles- as insurer and receiver arise by statutory design, and it is not uncommon for the FDIC to serve in both capacities with respect to a single bank liquidation. See FDIC v. Bernstein, 944 F.2d 101, 106 (2d Cir.1991); see also Tex. Am. Bancshares, Inc. v. Clarke, 954 F.2d 329, 335 (5th Cir.1992) (“The separateness of these dual identities of the FDIC has been well respected by federal courts.”).

[199]*199As insurer, the FDIC was statutorily required to either pay depositors the insured amounts in cash, or to make the depositors’ accounts available up to the insured amounts through another FDIC-insured bank. See 12 U.S.C. § 1821(f)(1) (1982). In this case, the FDIC chose to address virtually all of its insurance obligations by soliciting bids from financially healthy banks to enter into a so-called Deposit Insurance Transfer and Asset Purchase Agreement (“DITAPA”). Under a DITAPA, the healthy bank agrees to purchase certain of the failed bank’s assets at a premium in exchange for the FDIC making the insured deposits of the failed bank available through the healthy bank (which presumably is interested in the depositors’ business).

The FDIC ultimately entered into a DITAPA with the only bidder, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (“HKSB”), which paid a premium of over $6 million and agreed to purchase approximately $61 million of the Bank’s assets. The FDIC covered its remaining insurance obligations (pertaining to the Bank’s various loan production offices outside New York) either through a similar arrangement or by direct payment. By the end of 1986, the FDIC had paid over $140 million in insurance claims, virtually all of which went to HKSB as the Bank’s paying agent under the DITAPA.

By statute, the FDIC was subrogated to the claims of insured depositors to the extent of the FDIC’s insurance payments. See 12 U.S.C. § 1821(g) (1982). Beginning in July 1986, the FDIC, as receiver, began repaying its creditors, the largest of which was itself, as insurer, for having covered the insured deposits. By early 1990, the FDIC had repaid the amount of all principal owed to all the Bank’s creditors.

The FDIC then began to make interest payments to creditors. Based upon New York’s nine-percent statutory judgment rate, the FDIC determined that it owed itself approximately $23 million and that it owed non-FDIC creditors approximately $2.8 million.1 By mid-1994, those creditors had received just under half of the interest payments owed. The FDIC inactivated the receivership in 1995.

Bancorp initiated this lawsuit in 1995, seeking to recover against the FDIC, in both its corporate capacity as insurer and in its capacity as the Bank’s receiver, under theories of unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, and corporate waste. Bancorp contends that the June 1985 “regulatory ambush” rashly dubbed the Bank insolvent in the face of clear evidence to the contrary. See Am. Compl. ¶ 35.2 Ban-corp alleges that the FDIC breached its fiduciary duty to the Bank by continuing with the liquidation in light of that evidence and by choosing, before performing [200]*200the-customary cost evaluation, to wind up the bank By the very costly DITAPA method.

Bancorp also asserts that the FDIC breached its fiduciary duties and was unjustly enriched by awarding itself interest on its insurance payout. Bancorp contends the interest award was improper altogether and, in any event, excessive. Finally, Bancorp claims that the FDIC was wasteful in charging certain expenses to the receivership, such as professional fees and travel fees, and in paying itself the allegedly excessive'interest.'

In the two opinions.that are the subject of this appeal, the district Court granted the FDIC summary judgment on all claims. See Golden Pac. Bancorp v. FDIC, No. 95 Civ. 9281, 2003 WL 21496842 (S.D.N.Y. June 27, 2003); Golden Pac. Bancorp v. FDIC, No. 95 Civ. 9281, 2002 WL. 31875395 (S.D.N.Y. Dec.26, 2002).3

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

On appeal, we review the District Court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. See Golden Pac., 273 F.3d at 514. The Court may grant summary judgment only “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P.

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