John R. Doolittle, as a Person Participating in the Affairs of Bay Gulf Federal Credit Union v. National Credit Union Administration

992 F.2d 1531, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 13642, 1993 WL 177195
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJune 14, 1993
Docket91-4075
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 992 F.2d 1531 (John R. Doolittle, as a Person Participating in the Affairs of Bay Gulf Federal Credit Union v. National Credit Union Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
John R. Doolittle, as a Person Participating in the Affairs of Bay Gulf Federal Credit Union v. National Credit Union Administration, 992 F.2d 1531, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 13642, 1993 WL 177195 (11th Cir. 1993).

Opinion

HILL, Senior Circuit Judge:

John R. Doolittle appeals an order of the National Credit Union Administration that prohibits him from participating in any manner in the affairs of any federally-insured institution and directs him to pay the sum of $42,857 to Bay Gulf Credit Union as restitution. We vacate and remand the decision of the National Credit Union Administration.

I. Background

John R. Doolittle (“Doolittle”) worked for Bay Gulf Credit Union (“Bay Gulf’) for eighteen years, the last eight of which he served as president and was a member of the Board of Directors. Bay Gulf is a federally insured credit union, and as such it falls under the auspices of the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”) pursuant to the Federal Credit Union Act. (“FCU Act”), 12 U.S.C. § 1751, et seq. On April 19, 1990, Doolittle’s employment with Bay Gulf was terminated by vote of the Board of Directors. Doolittle subsequently brought suit against Bay Gulf for breach of contract and against David Becker, a consultant for the NCUA who succeeded Doolittle as president, for tor-tious interference with a business and contractual relationship.

On February 12, 1991, the NCUA filed a Notice of Intent to Prohibit and Impose Other Remedial Sanctions (“Notice of Intent”) against Doolittle. The Notice of Intent set forth five counts against Doolittle that charged him with violating the provisions of the FCU Act and accompanying regulations by engaging in unsafe and unsound practices, thus imperiling Bay Gulf and demonstrating Doolittle’s unfitness to participate in the af *1534 fairs of a federally insured credit union. The Notice of Intent did not allege and the record does not indicate that Doolittle derived any personal gain from the conduct set forth in the charges.

A formal administrative hearing was held before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) who issued a Recommended Decision proposing that Doolittle be prohibited from future participation in the conduct of the affairs of any federally insured credit union and that he also be ordered to make restitution to Bay Gulf in the amount of $42,857. The NCUA Board adopted the ALJ’s decision and recommended findings and conclusions in its October 15, 1991, Final Decision and Order after finding Doolittle’s exceptions to the ALJ’s decision non-meritorious. Doolittle then filed the appeal now before us.

The Notice of Intent alleged five counts of wrongdoing by Doolittle. Count I involved certain real estate, Priority One Learning Center (“Priority One”), owned by Bay Gulf. Priority One was valued on the books at $459,243 as a commercial property because a day care center had been operated there. This amount equaled the balance due on the outstanding loan on Priority One and was $30,000 less than a July 1989 appraisal. Desiring to know more about the property and the operation of a day care center in order to sell Priority One, Doolittle had a local real estate firm do an analysis of the property. The firm valued the property at $264,000 as residential property. Priority One was a commercial property in a residential area, but its zoning reverted to residential use while Bay Gulf owned it. The commercial zoning status could be renewed. Despite the apparent drop in the value of Priority One, Doolittle neither changed the valuation on the books nor adjusted the loan loss reserves to reflect a probable loss on the outstanding loan due to the reduced value of the property. Doolittle contended that he did not act on this market analysis because it failed to include the information he wanted about how to operate a day care center. The ALJ found that, in light .of the change of the zoning, Doolittle should have obtained another appraisal after finding this one unsatisfactory, and, at a minimum, should have informed the Board of Directors. Before distributing any dividend, Bay Gulf was required to adjust its loan loss reserves to reflect any anticipated losses. Because Bay Gulf had only $50,000 in undivided earnings for the first quarter of 1990, even a $50,000 transfer to the loan loss reserves would have wiped out the undivided earnings, and Bay Gulf would have been unable to pay a quarterly dividend without prior NCUA approval.

Counts II, III, and IV of the charges against Doolittle arise from certain accounting irregularities in Bay Gulfs books. The NCUA concluded that Doolittle breached his duty to insure that all transactions were recorded in an accurate and timely manner and reflected the results of the operation of Bay Gulf, and that such failures violated regulations requiring full and fair disclosure.

Specifically, Count II alleges improper accounting for legal expenses, data processing expenses, and employee sick time. The ALJ found that over $10,000 in legal expenses were invoiced in March, but recorded as an expense in April. The insurance reimbursement check for the legal expenses was received in April, but pursuant to Doolittle’s specific directions, the reimbursement was recorded as income for March after the end of that month. Bay Gulf received a commitment from the insurer in March that it would pay $10,000. This recording method did not comply with either accrual or modified cash basis accounting, which are the two authorized accounting methods for credit unions.

Bay Gulf had a recurring monthly data processing expense of which Doolittle was aware. The ALJ found that the General Ledger indicated that a special entry was made so that the expense would appear in April rather than March. The amount of this deferred expense ($22,000) was material because of the negligible net income for the first quarter ($2,500). Doolittle testified without contradiction that the data processing expenses were recorded in the same manner from 1986 through March 1990 pursuant to an agreement between Bay Gulf and the data processing agent, and that there were always twelve bills recorded in each fiscal year.

*1535 The final violation alleged in Count II was that vested employee vacation, sick, and compensatory time was not recorded as a liability in the records of the Credit Union. Thus, the financial records failed to disclose an almost $100,000 liability. Doolittle testified without contradiction that employee leave time was recorded as an expense when taken rather than when it vested, and this practice had been consistently followed for several years.

Count III of the Notice of Intent charged Doolittle with improperly altering asset depreciation schedules to inflate income for the first quarter of 1990. Doolittle changed the depreciation lives of certain fixed assets in March, but he contended that these changes were made in response to a NCUA directive to reduce expenses. Doolittle checked with two board members who were IRS employees, and the changes complied with IRS guidelines. Doolittle admitted that the reason for the changes was to increase income for the quarter. The net effect of these changes for March ¿lone was enough to determine whether the Credit Union showed a net profit or net loss for the first quarter of 1990. The ALJ found that where there is a change in an accounting estimate, there should have been some justification (like new evidence) and disclosure of the impact on the profitability of the institution.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
992 F.2d 1531, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 13642, 1993 WL 177195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-r-doolittle-as-a-person-participating-in-the-affairs-of-bay-gulf-ca11-1993.