Nab Asset Venture III, L.P. v. Rafter

6 Mass. L. Rptr. 102
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedOctober 22, 1996
DocketNo. 954340
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 102 (Nab Asset Venture III, L.P. v. Rafter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nab Asset Venture III, L.P. v. Rafter, 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 102 (Mass. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

Botsford, J.

In this action, Nab Asset Venture III, L.P. (Nab Asset) seeks to recover on a note executed by the defendants Craig Rafter and Bernard Gabler. This matter comes before the court on cross motions for summaryjudgment by Nab Asset and Rafter pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 56. Nab Asset claims that it is entitled to recover as a matter of law; Rafter argues that the statute of limitation applicable to the action has run, precluding any recovery on Nab Asset’s part. For the reasons set forth below, Nab Asset’s motion for summary judgment is allowed, and Rafter’s cross motion for summary judgment is denied.

BACKGROUND

The summaryjudgment record reveals the following. On June 20, 1989, Rafter and Gabler executed a recourse promissory note (note) in favor of the Home National Bank of Milford; the principal amount of the note was $120,000.2 The note was secured by a mortgage on property in Natick that the defendants owned. The Home National Bank of Milford subsequently became insolvent. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was appointed receiver of the bank in June of 1990. In this receivership capacity, the FDIC took control over the note.

At some point after. the FDIC became receiver, Rafter and Gabler defaulted on the note. As receiver, the FDIC assigned the note to the FDIC acting in its corporate capacity. On September 30, 1992, the FDIC sent both Rafter and Gabler written notice of its intent to foreclose on the Natick property securing the note and to hold them liable for any deficiency. This written notification was required by G.L.c. 244, §17B (1994 ed.). On November 18, 1992, the FDIC in its corporate capacity and as assignee of the FDIC as receiver, foreclosed on the Natick property. After the November 18 sale, a deficiency of approximately $67,000 in principal still remained on the note.

Sometime after the foreclosure sale, Nab Asset purchased the note from the FDIC. Nab Asset sent demand letters to Rafter and Gabler in October of 1994. Rafter and Gabler did not make any payments in satisfaction of the note. This prompted Nab Asset to send out another demand letter dated February 15, 1995. Again, no payment was forthcoming. Both demand letters were sent via certified mail, and were signed for. Nab Asset filed this action on July 27, 1995.

DISCUSSION

Motions for summary judgment are granted where there are no genuine issues of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Mass.R.Civ.R 56(c); Cassesso v. Commissioner of Correction, 390 Mass. 419, 422 (1983); Community National Bank v. Dawes, 369 Mass. 550, 553 (1976). In this case, in connection with the summary judgment motion pressed by Nab Asset, Rafter does not dispute that Nab Asset can prove all the factual prerequisites to collection on the note; rather, he claims that as a matter of law, Nab Asset cannot recover, because the applicable State statute of limitations had run before Nab Asset brought this suit. Similarly, in relation to Rafter’s cross motion for summary judgment, Nab Asset does not contend there are material issues of fact in dispute, but argues that Rafter cannot prevail as matter of law, because the governing statute of limitations is not the two-year State statute on which Rafter relies but rather a six-year federal one. Thus, both parties agree that this case is properly resolved by summaiy judgment; their dispute is over the legal question of which statute of limitations applies.

Nab Asset argues that since it purchased the note from the FDIC, it is an assignee of the FDIC, and therefore, the applicable statute of limitations is the one that governs the FDIC for contract disputes. The duration of the FDIC statute of limitations is six years. 12 U.S.C. §1821 (d)(14) (1994) (§1821(d)(14)).3 Rafter argues that the two-year statute of limitations which G.L.c. 244, §17A (1994 ed.) (§17A)4 imposes on an action to recover a deficiency after a mortgage foreclo[103]*103sure is applicable to this case because the six-year limitations period in §1821(d)(14) is (1) only for the benefit of the FDIC acting as a receiver or conservator and not, as in this case, when it is acting in its corporate capacity: and (2) in any event, is inapplicable to an assignee of the FDIC. Furthermore, according to Rafter, Nab Asset’s sole cause of action is based not on contract but on the Massachusetts statutory foreclosure procedures which provide the exclusive remedy; and since the Federal statute of limitations only applies to contract claims, it cannot apply to this case.

The FDIC was created in order to restore and preserve public confidence in depository institutions and it is responsible for enforcing the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. 12 U.S.C. §1811 (1988&Supp. 1996). In order to fulfill its statutory duties, the FDIC takes on several roles. In its corporate capacity, the FDIC regulates financial institutions and manages the FDIC insurance fund. In its capacity as receiver, the FDIC accounts for the assets of failed institutions and compensates creditors. In its capacity as conservator, the FDIC assumes the management of failing institutions and disposes of assets and liabilities. See generally B.S. Zisman, Banks and Thrifts: Government Enforcement and Receivership, §11.01 (1993 & Supp. July 1993).

By its terms, §1821(d)(14) applies to the FDIC acting as a receiver, and establishes a six-year statute of limitations for contract actions.5 As Rafter argues, §1821(d) (14) does not address the statute of limitations applicable to the FDIC acting in its corporate capacity. However, pursuant to 12 U.S.C. §1823(d)(3)(A) (1994), “(wjith respect to any asset acquired or liability assumed [while giving assistance to an insured institution pursuant to 12 U.S.C. §1823(c) (1994)], the Corporation [FDIC] shall have all of the rights, powers, privileges, and authorities of the Corporation as receiver under Sections 1821 and 1825(b) of this title.” Therefore, regardless ofwhether the FDIC acts in its corporate capacity or receivership capacity, it still benefits from the six-year statute of limitations in a contract action.

Section 1821(d) (14) is silent as to the rights of private assignees of the FDIC. A number of Federal and State courts, however, have addressed the question whether assignees are nevertheless entitled to rely on this statute. The great majority of these courts have determined that entities purchasing and becoming assignees of notes held by the FDIC are entitled to the benefit of the limitations period in §1821(d) (14). The reasoning is as follows. When Congress is silent the courts can apply common law principles, and under the common law, “[a]n assignee stands in the shoes of his assignor.” FDIC v. Bledsoe, 989 F.2d 805, 810 (5th. Cir. 1993). Moreover, the common law principles of assignments are embodied in the Uniform Commercial Code and Restatement (Second) of Contracts, §336, comment b (1979). Under the Uniform Commercial Code, §3-201(1) (codified in Massachusetts as G.L.c.

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Bluebook (online)
6 Mass. L. Rptr. 102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nab-asset-venture-iii-lp-v-rafter-masssuperct-1996.