Net First Nat. Bank v. First Telebanc Corp.

834 So. 2d 944, 2003 WL 142146
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 22, 2003
Docket4D02-519
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 834 So. 2d 944 (Net First Nat. Bank v. First Telebanc Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Net First Nat. Bank v. First Telebanc Corp., 834 So. 2d 944, 2003 WL 142146 (Fla. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

834 So.2d 944 (2003)

NET FIRST NATIONAL BANK, Craig Connors, Laura K. Pugliese, Randall R. Rossilli, Richard Pasley, William A. High and Glenn E. Gromann, Appellants,
v.
FIRST TELEBANC CORP., a/k/a Net First Financial Corporation, Keith F. Duffy and Bradley B. Groves, Appellees.

No. 4D02-519.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

January 22, 2003.

*945 James S. Telepman of Cohen, Norris, Scherer, Weinberger & Wolmer, North Palm Beach, for appellants Craig Connors, Laura K. Pugliese, Randall R. Rossilli, Richard Pasley, William A. High and Glenn E. Gromann.

Thompkins W. White and Edward W. Dougherty, Jr. of Igler & Dougherty, P.A., Tallahassee, for appellees.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a non-final order granting a temporary injunction that prevents *946 Appellants from acting in their former roles as directors of Net First National Bank. Jurisdiction is under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3)(B).

I. Background

This complex case involves two groups of investors battling for control of Net First National Bank ("the Bank") and the Bank's sole shareholder, First Telebanc Corporation ("the holding company"). The events leading to the present rift in leadership began in January 1999, when the directors of the Bank appointed Keith Duffy to fill a vacant director position. Sometime prior to May 2000, the Bank was designated a "troubled institution" under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA").

In June 2000, Duffy began acting as president and chief executive officer of the Bank. Throughout this time, the Bank experienced increasing financial difficulties, resulting in a Consent Order and Stipulation between the Office of the Comptroller of Currency ("OCC") and the Bank. The order gave the OCC increased oversight of the Bank's business dealings, most importantly a veto power over any proposed senior executive officer.

Pursuant to FIRREA requirements, Duffy submitted a form 914 Notice to the OCC detailing his qualifications for his senior executive and director positions with the Bank. Duffy was later interviewed, and the OCC declined to grant him authority to act as a senior executive of the Bank, stating that he did not have sufficient experience to hold a leadership position in a "problem bank." The OCC did not object at that time to Duffy's continuing as a director.

In February 2001, however, the OCC nullified its non-objection to Duffy serving as director. In a five-page letter, the OCC detailed material misrepresentations and omissions Duffy made in the biographical portion of his 914 application and his interview. The OCC found that Duffy gave a false answer and omitted material information regarding his past involvement with a state-chartered bank, then continued to misrepresent facts and give inconsistent explanations in subsequent documents and his interview.

At the center of Duffy's misrepresentations to the OCC was his past involvement with a state-chartered bank. Duffy failed to disclose that his application to serve as president of the state bank was disapproved by Florida's Department of Banking and Finance. Duffy also failed to disclose that after disapproval, he continued to serve as president of the state bank, in violation of the Department's numerous demands that he step down. The state bank was in poor financial condition and under a cease and desist order from the State Comptroller when Duffy arrived, and it deteriorated further during his tenure, with criticism of his performance including "inappropriate insider transactions involving Duffy-related companies, a number of violations of laws, and continued noncompliance with the cease and desist order." As a result, the OCC withdrew its approval for Duffy to have any connection with Bank leadership.

In September 2000, the Federal Reserve Bank notified the board of the holding company that the OCC decision not only precluded Duffy from serving as a director of the Bank, but governed his actions as a director of the holding company as well. The Federal Reserve warned that "[h]olding company board of directors' minutes should clearly note Mr. Duffy's abstention from all policymaking decisions regarding the bank." Several months later, in May 2001, the holding company elected six directors of the Bank. They included Duffy, *947 Randall Rossilli, and Laura Pugliese, with Duffy's directorship subject to the outcome of a pending appeal of the OCC nullification. The OCC responded by advising the Bank's directors that "Mr. Duffy may not participate in the affairs of the bank or otherwise act as an `institution affiliated party' in board meetings or under any other circumstances," and that such participation subjected other directors to civil penalties. Duffy's appeal of the OCC nullification was resolved against him.

II. The Current Controversy

As of September 2001, the holding company's board consisted solely of Duffy, Rossilli, and Director Bradley Groves. At that time, the Board resolved unanimously that "Laura Pugliese is approved as Director for 914 approval." By letter date-stamped October 25, 2001, the Federal Reserve notified the holding company that it did not intend to disapprove Pugliese's appointment to the Board of the holding company, and the appointment should be consummated no less than three months from the date of the letter.

The situation came to a head on November 9, 2001, at a meeting of the Bank's directors chaired by Rossilli and attended by Groves. The directors voted to withdraw the Bank as a party to Duffy's appeal of the OCC nullification and find new corporate counsel. On the same date, an excess of 20% of holding company shareholders called for a special meeting of shareholders to be held on December 18, 2001, at which they would vote on whether to remove Duffy and Groves as directors of the holding company.

On November 20, 2001, Duffy, in his capacity as chairman of the holding company, called a special meeting of the holding company's board. The meeting included corporate counsel George A. Igler, Duffy, Groves, Rossilli attending by phone, and a man named Armen Markarian. Markarian had recently invested $600,000.00 in the holding company. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta later notified corporate counsel that Markarian could not serve as a director of the holding company until he filed a 914 application and received approval.

The minutes of the meeting indicate that Rossilli objected to Markarian's presence and asked why Pugliese was not present. Groves responded that Markarian had been elected a director of the holding company in August and Pugliese had not. Duffy and Groves complained that they were denied access to the holding company's corporate offices by the corporate Secretary, Glen Gromann, whom they claim acted at Rossilli's direction. Duffy and Groves then began discussing Gromann's removal.

Rossilli objected and then left the meeting by hanging up. Afterward, Duffy, Groves, and Markarian voted to remove Gromann and replace him with Groves, to authorize Groves to vote all of the holding company's shares, and to add Sean K. Olhan to the holding company's board. The meeting was adjourned, to reconvene after a meeting of the Bank's shareholders.

Duffy, Groves, and Markarian then immediately convened a meeting of the shareholders of the Bank, on the ground that they represented the holding company, which was the sole shareholder.

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Bluebook (online)
834 So. 2d 944, 2003 WL 142146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/net-first-nat-bank-v-first-telebanc-corp-fladistctapp-2003.