Jackson v. Roosevelt Federal Savings & Loan Association

702 F.2d 674, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 29744
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 11, 1983
Docket82-1193
StatusPublished

This text of 702 F.2d 674 (Jackson v. Roosevelt Federal Savings & Loan Association) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jackson v. Roosevelt Federal Savings & Loan Association, 702 F.2d 674, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 29744 (8th Cir. 1983).

Opinion

702 F.2d 674

D. Bruce JACKSON, Robert G. Hersan, J.R. Gottlieb, Steven W.
Ellenbogen, Mel G. Helms, Jay S. Eigel, d/b/a
Aries Gottlieb Allentown Joint Venture, Appellants,
v.
ROOSEVELT FEDERAL SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION, Appellee.

No. 82-1193.

United States Court of Appeals,
Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 12, 1982.
Decided March 11, 1983.

Popkin, Stern, Heifetz, Lurie, Sheehan, Reby & Chervitz, Richard J. Sheehan, Michael H. Wetmore, St. Louis, Mo., for appellants.

Bryan, Cave, McPheeters & McRoberts, Thomas C. Walsh, John Michael Clear, John I. Alber, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee Roosevelt Federal Sav. & Loan Ass'n; Thomas A. Stegeman, St. Louis, Mo., of counsel.

Before HEANEY and ROSS, Circuit Judges, and HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

D. Bruce Jackson, a partner in Aries Gottlieb Allentown Joint Venture (Aries), a Pennsylvania partnership, and the five other members of the Aries partnership brought a diversity action against Roosevelt Federal Savings & Loan Association (Roosevelt Federal) alleging breach of a loan commitment agreement. Aries now appeals from the order of the district court1 granting summary judgment in favor of Roosevelt Federal. We affirm.

In early summer, 1979 the Aries partnership applied to Roosevelt Federal through a mortgage brokerage firm for a long-term loan of $1,987,500.00 to finance a shopping center development on a tract of land located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Appellants sought to obtain financing for the shopping center, whose principal tenants would be Weis Markets, Inc., Friendly Ice Cream Corporation (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hershey Foods Corporation), and White Cross Stores, Inc., through the use of I.R.C. Sec. 103 tax-exempt industrial development bonds2 that would be issued by the Lehigh County Industrial Development Authority (LCIDA).

On June 22, 1979 Roosevelt Federal extended its offer to provide permanent tax-exempt financing.3 After Roosevelt Federal acceded to certain modifications proposed by Aries, appellant Jackson, acting on behalf of the partnership, accepted the loan commitment offer by signing the agreement tendered in early July. A copy of the commitment agreement incorporating the modified terms was signed by Jackson on September 17, 1979. The final version was signed one month later.

Both the commitment agreement initially accepted by the Aries partnership and the final version executed by the parties incorporated by reference seven special conditions,4 only one of which is at issue in this case. That provision, known as Special Condition No. 4, required Aries to provide to Roosevelt Federal before the September 30, 1980 loan closing deadline, "[s]atisfactory evidence that the loan [would] be tax exempt for its life." The dispute now before us arises from the parties' divergent views of what constitutes "satisfactory evidence."

In presenting its views on the question of satisfactory evidence to the district court Roosevelt Federal submitted the affidavits and depositions of a number of witnesses. Among these witnesses was Ronal R. Newbanks, bond counsel for Roosevelt Federal in the Lehigh County transaction who at all pertinent times was listed in The Bond Buyers Directory of Municipal Bond Dealers of the United States (Red Book), an annual publication that indicates, inter alia, counsel who specialize in the practice of tax-exempt municipal bond law.5 Newbanks initially set forth the criteria that must be satisfied to qualify for tax exemption under I.R.C. Sec. 103(b)(6)(D), the applicable provision in this case. He noted that interest on the Roosevelt Federal loan would be exempt from federal income taxation only if the aggregate of the face amount of the bond ($2,550,000.00 here), any includable prior issues, see n. 2 supra, and certain capital expenditures paid or incurred by the developer and principal users (tenants) of the shopping center and any related persons within three years before and three years after the date the bond was issued did not exceed ten million dollars. Newbanks further stated that his role as bond counsel was to render an unqualified approving opinion to Roosevelt Federal concerning the tax-exempt character of the bond, and that in his experience established lenders invariably required an unqualified approving opinion of nationally recognized bond counsel, that is, one listed in the Red Book, as a condition to the extension of credit. He indicated that an unqualified opinion of nationally recognized bond counsel provides assurance of the tax-exempt status of the bond for the long-term lender and for any subsequent purchaser of the bond in the secondary market. In his deposition he noted, "Normally a[n] [initial] purchaser [that is, a long-term lender] will not buy a bond if there is a qualified opinion.... I would doubt that a sale of a bond with a qualified opinion could be made in the secondary market."

John M. Pollaci, a Roosevelt Federal vice-president and commercial lending officer until August, 1980, corroborated Newbanks' testimony on these points. He expressly stated that the term "satisfactory evidence" in Special Condition No. 4 of the loan commitment agreement comprehended an opinion of nationally recognized bond counsel that the interest on the bond would be tax-exempt.6 Moreover, Pollaci noted that Roosevelt Federal had a responsibility to its clients in the secondary bond market to ensure that the bonds would remain tax-exempt.

Elaborating on his function as bond counsel,7 Newbanks then stated that he requested and reviewed documentation from the borrower and the issuing public body to satisfy himself that the bond issue was tax-exempt. He added,

Such documentation ... must include certificates by the 'principal users' of the facility to be financed through the tax-exempt industrial development bond and their 'related persons,' setting forth their prior capital expenditures within the incorporated muncipality [sic ] or unincorporated area of the county in which the facility is located for the preceding three years, and a statement concerning and limiting estimated future capital expenditures within the same locale for the following three years. These certificates are necessary because the capital expenditures must be counted in determining whether the $10,000,000 ceiling has been, and to ensure that it will not be, exceeded. Without such certificates (commonly called 'capital expenditure certificates' or 'project certificates'), it is impossible to render an unqualified approving opinion because bond counsel would not have sufficient information to determine whether the bonds would be tax-exempt.

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Jackson v. Roosevelt Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n
702 F.2d 674 (Eighth Circuit, 1983)

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702 F.2d 674, 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 29744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-roosevelt-federal-savings-loan-association-ca8-1983.