National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh v. Midland Bancor, Inc.

159 F.R.D. 562, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18664, 1994 WL 719219
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedDecember 23, 1994
DocketCiv. A. No. 93-2467-GTV
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 159 F.R.D. 562 (National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh v. Midland Bancor, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh v. Midland Bancor, Inc., 159 F.R.D. 562, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18664, 1994 WL 719219 (D. Kan. 1994).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

RUSHFELT, United States Magistrate Judge.

Before the court is Plaintiffs Motion To Compel Production of Documents From Defendants Midland Bank (Midland) and Midland Bank of Lenexa1 (hereinafter collectively referred to as defendants) (doe. 266). Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 34 and 37, plaintiff National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa. seeks an order to compel defendants to produce all documents, including bank examination reports and reports of operation and condition, responsive to requests 8, 9, 11, and 13, of its Request for Production of Documents served on said defendants on March 11, 1994. Plaintiff also seeks reimbursement of costs and expenses incurred upon this motion. Defendants Country Hill Bank, John W. Acuff, Phil R. Acuff, Country Hill Baneshares, Inc., Erwin D. Rhodes, Anthony C. Sommers, Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC), and Midland oppose the motion.

Request 8 seeks

all documents evidencing or pertaining to any knowledge or information known to or obtained by any Director, Officer, Institution, or Claimant during the period of April 1, 1992, through January 1, 1993, whether through its own inquiry and investigation, or from any other sources regarding any investigations, proceedings or actions taken by any federal or state agency regarding any Insured or the activities thereof.

Request 9 seeks

all documents evidencing or pertaining to any knowledge or information known to or obtained by any Director, Officer, Institution, or Claimant during the period of April 1, 1992, through January 1, 1993, regarding any acts, errors and omissions which might give rise to a claim under the Policy which was the subject of the Application.

Request 11 seeks “the minutes of each shareholders’ meeting, board meeting, and com[565]*565mittee meeting held by the Institution during the period of April 1, 1992, until January 1, 1993.” Request 13 asks defendants to produce “all documents that you reviewed, referred to, relied upon, or otherwise used to assist you in preparing your answers to the Interrogatories.”

In separate responses defendants objected to each of these requests by stating:

This Request calls for the production of documents subject to attorney/elient and work product privileges. This Request also calls for the production of documents which this Defendant is prohibited from producing for inspection and copying by federal and state law. Without waiving these objections, this Defendant -will produce all documents not subject to a privilege and not protected by law which are responsive to this Request at a mutually convenient time subsequent to the entry of a protective order in this case by the Court.

Defendants later identified “bank examination reports” as those documents which federal and state law prohibit them to produce. In support of that objection they cite 12 C.F.R. §§ 261.8(a)(2), 261.14(b), 309.5(c)(8), 309.6(c), 309.7(c); Mo.Rev.Stat. §§ 361.070, 361.080; K.S.A. 9-1712; Op.Att’y Gen. 83-112 (Kansas 1983); Cooperman v. One Bancorp (In re One Bancorp Sec. Litig.), 134 F.R.D. 4 (D.Me.1991); and State ex rel. Miller v. Crist, 579 S.W.2d 837 (Mo.Ct.App. 1979).

Plaintiff contends that it can obtain bank examination reports through the discovery authorized by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It submits that neither Missouri nor Kansas law prohibits such discovery. It also argues that Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations creates no absolute privilege against disclosure of examination reports. It contends they are relevant to whether defendants knew of any facts or circumstances leading to potential claims, when they applied for insurance. It further suggests that bank examination reports may be the only source of objective information about conditions at Midland and Country Hill during the relevant time period.

Plaintiff characterizes the issue as whether the court can order defendants to produce relevant documents, notwithstanding their confidential classification by a federal agency. It also refers to a prospective protective order, to which defendant FDIC has agreed to preserve their confidentiality. It suggests that the order adequately protects the interest of the Division of Supervision of the FDIC. It thus sees no reason to follow circuitous regulatory procedures to obtain the requested documents from the FDIC.

Defendants argue that state and federal law prohibit them from disclosing bank examination reports to plaintiff. They suggest the motion is premature for her failure to exhaust administrative remedies to get them. They claim, furthermore, that they would incur civil and criminal penalties for disclosing exempted information without proper administrative authorization. They suggest, moreover, that a protective order would not relieve them of statutory responsibilities to withhold the documents.

Subject to the proposed protective order, defendant Midland agrees to produce state examination materials responsive to the requests. It explains that earlier production was impossible, because the Missouri Director of Finance had not granted it authority to produce them. It now has such authority. It re-asserts, however, its objections of work product and attorney-client privilege. It proposes to provide plaintiff with a privilege log, itemizing the particular documents subject to these privileges. It suggests that any further discussion of such privileges is premature.

Defendant FDIC, as receiver for Midland Bank of Kansas and College Boulevard National Bank, responds to the motion only to describe a limit upon its agreement to a protective order and stipulation. It suggests that its authority as receiver for “closed banks” includes no direct role in the supervision of open banks, such as defendants. It asserts that the Division of Supervision of the FDIC oversees the operations of open banks and would determine any availability of the bank examination reports to defendants. Defendant FDIC explains that the [566]*566Division of Supervision has sole custody or control of the reports for the open banks.

FDIC as receiver thus argues that the reliance of plaintiff upon its agreement to a protective order is misplaced. Defendant contends it has no authority as receiver to bind or act for the Division of Supervision. It explains that, as receiver, it acts independently from the FDIC in its corporate, governmental capacity. It submits that courts have recognized a “separate capacities” doctrine under which FDIC as receiver is distinct from FDIC as regulator. It suggests that it bound itself only in the capacity of receiver to the proposed protective order and stipulation, and not on behalf of the Division of Supervision of the FDIC. Defendant FDIC thus asserts that its agreement to a protective order has no substantive significance to the underlying issue of discoverability of the documents.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
159 F.R.D. 562, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18664, 1994 WL 719219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-union-fire-insurance-co-of-pittsburgh-v-midland-bancor-inc-ksd-1994.