Madison Loan & Thrift Co. v. Neff

648 S.W.2d 655, 1982 Tenn. App. LEXIS 497
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 27, 1982
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 648 S.W.2d 655 (Madison Loan & Thrift Co. v. Neff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Madison Loan & Thrift Co. v. Neff, 648 S.W.2d 655, 1982 Tenn. App. LEXIS 497 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

LEWIS, Judge.

Plaintiff Madison Loan and Thrift Company (Madison) filed its “Complaint for Declaratory Judgment or Petition for Review” against defendants John C. Neff, Commissioner of the Department of Insurance (Commissioner), and William Leech, Attorney General for the State of Tennessee.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss “for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted.”

The Chancellor sustained defendants’ motion on the ground that Madison’s complaint failed “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

Since this is an appeal from the-sustaining of a motion to dismiss pursuant to Tenn.R.Civ.P. 12.02(6), the factual allegations set forth in the complaint are admitted. Garrison v. Graybeel, 202 Tenn. 567, 308 S.W.2d 375 (1957).

Madison is an industrial loan and thrift company registered under the Industrial Loan and Thrift Companies Act, T.C.A. §§ 45-5-101 et seq. As an industrial loan and thrift company, it is granted authority under T.C.A. § 45-5-301(9) to issue investment certificates in addition to its lending activities.

The Commissioner has regulatory and supervisory powers over industrial loan and thrift companies pursuant to T.C.A. § 45-5-501 et seq.

Madison has advised the Commissioner that it intends to issue investment certificates pursuant to T.C.A. § 45-5-301(9) and has provided the Commissioner with a detailed description of the proposed instruments.

Madison has requested the Commissioner to issue a rule, pursuant to T.C.A. § 45-5-501, defining the limitations upon the issuance of investment certificates by Madison and other industrial loan and thrift companies and describing the procedure whereby the Commissioner will implement his alleged statutory authority to supervise and regulate the industrial loan and thrift industry. Madison also sought the Commissioner’s confirmation that he was obligated to examine industrial loan and thrift companies “for soundness of financial condition.”

The Commissioner insists that his statutory authority over the financial condition of industrial loan and thrift companies is limited and does not include the authority to conduct an examination of the soundness of their financial condition as requested by Madison.

The Commissioner has refused to issue any rule by which the financial condition of industrial loan and thrift companies would be examined.

The Attorney General is made a party defendant because the complaint seeks the judicial construction of a statute of the State of Tennessee and a declaration under T.C.A. § 29-14^-103 of the authority and obligations of a state agency.

The issue raised by this appeal is whether this is a proper case for declaratory judgment.

The statutory basis for this action is found in the Tennessee Declaratory Judgments Act, T.C.A. §§ 29-14-101 et seq. That Act, at T.C.A. § 29-14-103, provides:

Construction of statutes and written instruments. — Any person interested under a deed, will, written contract, or other writings constituting a contract, or whose rights, status, or legal relations are affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract, or franchise, may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the instrument, [657]*657statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise and obtain a declaration of rights, status or other legal relations thereunder.

T.C.A. § 29-14-113 provides: “Liberal construction — This chapter is declared to be remedial; its purpose is to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status, and other legal relations; and is to be liberally construed and administered.”

These statutes have been construed by this Court to require

[t]hat to maintain an action for a declaratory judgment a justiciable controversy must exist .... [Citation omitted.] For a controversy to be justiciable, a real question rather than a theoretical one must be presented and a real legally pro-tectable interest must be at stake on the part of plaintiff. [Citation omitted.] If the controversy depends upon a future or contingent event or involves a theoretical or hypothetical state of facts, the controversy is not justiciable under the Tennessee Declaratory Judgments Act. [Citations omitted.] The Declaratory Judgments Act does not give the courts jurisdiction to render advisory opinions to assist the parties or to allay their fears as to what may occur in the future.

Parks v. Alexander, 608 S.W.2d 881, 891-892 (Tenn.App.1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 939, 101 S.Ct. 2019, 68 L.Ed.2d 326 (1981).

Does a justiciable controversy exist in the instant ease?

Madison argues that under T.C.A. §§ 45-5-101 et seq. the Commissioner has the authority to examine industrial loan and thrift companies as to the soundness of their financial condition and that the Commissioner has the duty and authority to issue a cease and desist order should he find that a covered company is not financially sound.

The Commissioner admits that he has the authority and a duty to supervise industrial loan and thrift companies within the bounds of his statutory authority. See, T.C.A. §§ 45-5-101(a), 45-5-501, and 45-5-504.

The extent of the Commissioners supervisory power is the paramount contention between Madison and the Commissioner.

“Administrative agencies have only such power as is granted them by statute, and any action which is not authorized by the statutes is a nullity.” General Portland, Inc. v. Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Board, 560 S.W.2d 910, 913 (Tenn.App.1976).

It is a general rule that no intent may be imputed to the legislature in the enactment of a statute other than such as is supported by the face of the statute itself. City of Nashville v. Kizer, 194 Tenn. 357, 364, 250 S.W.2d 562, 565 (1952). This rule likewise applies in determining the power of an administrative agency. Williams v. American Plan Corp., 216 Tenn. 435, 443, 392 S.W.2d 920, 924 (1965).

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Bluebook (online)
648 S.W.2d 655, 1982 Tenn. App. LEXIS 497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/madison-loan-thrift-co-v-neff-tennctapp-1982.