Mid-America National Bank v. First Savings & Loan Ass'n

737 F.2d 638
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJune 15, 1984
DocketNo. 83-1716
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 737 F.2d 638 (Mid-America National Bank v. First Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mid-America National Bank v. First Savings & Loan Ass'n, 737 F.2d 638 (7th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

CUMMINGS, Chief Judge.

This appeal presents the issue of whether an implied right of action exists in favor of borrowers against lenders under the Na[639]*639tional Flood Insurance Program (the “Flood Program”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4012a(b) and 4104a. The district court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss, holding that no such implied right of action exists under Sections 4012a(b) and 4104a, and we affirm.

I

The named plaintiffs are ten individuals, being five husbands and wives, and the trustee of an Illinois land trust. Plaintiffs brought this action on their own behalf and on behalf of an alleged class against 27 federally chartered or insured commercial banks and savings and loan associations. Six of the defendant institutions extended mortgage loans to the named plaintiffs for the purchase of properties located in the southern Chicago metropolitan area. The remaining 21 defendants are alleged to have loaned money to a member of the plaintiff class in a situation similar to that of the named plaintiffs.

The named plaintiffs assert that the mortgaged property securing their loans is located in an area identified by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as being prone to flooding. Plaintiffs claim .that defendants violated 42 U.S.C. § 4104a by failing to notify plaintiffs of the flood risk when plaintiffs acquired their loans, and that defendants violated 42 U.S.C. § 4012a(b) by failing to require plaintiffs to purchase flood insurance to the extent of the loan amounts. Plaintiffs’ property suffered flood damage, and plaintiffs assert their losses were uninsured. Although the above provisions do not expressly create a federal cause of action in favor of borrowers against mortgage lenders, plaintiffs seek to hold defendants liable for the losses and claim that an implied private right of action exists under Sections 4012a(b) and 4104a of the Flood Program.

Count I of plaintiffs’ complaint alleges the above-mentioned federal cause of action. Counts II and III assert that defendants’ actions violated state common law and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, Ill.Rev. Stat., ch. 121V2, §§ 261-272.

Defendants brought a motion to dismiss, accepting plaintiffs’ factual allegations as true in order to reach the dispositive legal issue. The district court granted defendants’ motion, holding that no implied right of action exists under the Flood Program which would allow borrowers to sue their mortgage lenders. Since no independent basis for federal jurisdiction remained, the district court dismissed the pendent state claims without prejudice.1 Plaintiffs appeal from the district court’s memorandum opinion and order granting defendants’ motion to dismiss.

II

In 1975 the Supreme Court in Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 45 L.Ed.2d 26, set out a four-factor analysis by which to determine whether an implied right of action exists under a statute: (1) whether the plaintiff is a member of the class for whose “especial benefit” the statute was passed; (2) whether there is any indication of legislative intent, explicit or implicit, either to create a private right of action or to deny one; (3) whether a private right is consistent with the underlying purposes of the legislative scheme; and (4) whether the claim is one traditionally assigned to state law so that it would be inappropriate to infer a claim based on federal law. Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. at 78, 95 S.Ct at 2088.

The approach taken in Supreme Court decisions subsequent to Cort indicates that the determination whether an implied right of action exists under a statute need not be broken down into four purportedly separate factors. In these more recent cases the Supreme Court has focused on a comprehensive analysis of legislative intent instead of explicitly fol[640]*640lowing the point-by-point Cort analysis. Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis, 444 U.S. 11, 23-24, 100 S.Ct. 242, 249, 62 L.Ed.2d 146; Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington, 442 U.S. 560, 568, 99 S.Ct. 2479, 2485, 61 L.Ed.2d 82. Indeed the first and third Cort factors are intimately related to the question of legislative intent. Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington, 442 U.S. at 575-576, 99 S.Ct. at 2488-2489. Pursuant to this development the second Cort factor — legislative intent — is the crucial issue, to be resolved in light of the statutory language, legislative history, and legislative purpose. Universities Research Association v. Coutu, 450 U.S. 754, 770, 101 S.Ct. 1451, 1461, 67 L.Ed.2d 662; Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis, 444 U.S. at 23-24, 100 S.Ct. at 249; Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington, 442 U.S. at 575-576, 99 S.Ct. at 2488-2489; Bassler v. Central National Bank, 715 F.2d 308, 310 (7th Cir.1983); Indiana National Corp. v. Rich, 712 F.2d 1180, 1185 (7th Cir.1983).

With this mode of analysis we now turn to the substantive issue in this case. The Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Circuits have considered the precise issue before us and have held that no implied private right of action exists under Sections 4012a(b) and 4104a. Hofbauer v. Northwest National Bank of Rochester, 700 F.2d 1197 (8th Cir.1983); Arvai v. First Federal Savings & Loan Association, 698 F.2d 683 (4th Cir.1983); Till v. Unifirst Federal Savings & Loan Association, 653 F.2d 152 (5th Cir.1981). Accord Brill v. Northern California Savings & Loan Association, 555 F.Supp. 566 (N.D.Cal.1982) (Peckham, C.J.). Two state courts have reached the same result. R.B.J. Apartments, Inc. v. Gate City Savings & Loan Association, 315 N.W.2d 284 (N.D.1982); Pippin v. Burkhalter, 276 S.C. 438, 279 S.E.2d 603 (1981). Plaintiffs do not cite nor does our research disclose any reported decision not overruled that reaches a contrary result.2

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737 F.2d 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mid-america-national-bank-v-first-savings-loan-assn-ca7-1984.