Pearson v. United States

831 F. Supp. 2d 514, 2011 WL 6426161, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147557
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedDecember 22, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 10-11410-EFH
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 831 F. Supp. 2d 514 (Pearson v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pearson v. United States, 831 F. Supp. 2d 514, 2011 WL 6426161, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147557 (D. Mass. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HARRINGTON, Senior District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the United States’ Motion to Dismiss the Plaintiffs Amended Complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Plaintiff, a former real estate developer, brings this action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346, 2671-80, alleging that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) was negligent in its management and liquidation of loans that Plaintiff and his affiliated companies had with several New England banks which failed during the real estate collapse of the early 1990s and for which the FDIC was appointed as receiver. As set forth below, [516]*516the Court allows-in-part and denies-in-part the United States’ motion.

Background

The following facts are taken primarily from the Amended Complaint, with certain undisputed facts taken from the briefs and attachments filed by the parties in connection with the present motion.

Plaintiff had been a real estate developer in New England for thirty years when, in the early 1990s, the real estate market collapsed. At the time of the market collapse, the Plaintiff, through his affiliated companies, had a number of real estate development projects underway. The Plaintiffs companies obtained financing for the projects by obtaining loans, for which the Plaintiff was a personal guarantor, from various banks across New England, including Capitol Bank & Trust Co. (“Capitol” or “Capitol Bank”), Bank of New England, N.A., Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., and Maine Savings Bank. The loans from these banks were to be repaid as the properties from the projects were completed and sold. As a result of the economic downturn, however, the Plaintiffs companies defaulted on a number of the loans. The banks were also affected by the economic circumstances and, between 1990 and 1992, the FDIC was appointed receiver after each bank was closed due to insolvency or other financial difficulties. Each of the FDIC receiverships was a separate legal entity that is now terminated.

Two of Plaintiffs companies were Hargrave, Inc. (“Hargrave”) and Bradgate Associates, Inc. (“Bradgate”). Both Hargrave and Bradgate had obtained loans from Capitol Bank to finance their development projects but subsequently defaulted on those loans. The FDIC was appointed receiver of Capitol Bank on December 30, 1990 and succeeded to all of Capitol’s rights regarding the loans. See 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(2).

On April 6, 1992, the Plaintiff filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 and dissolved Hargrave. On or about March 25, 1994, the bankruptcy trustee filed an FTCA administrative claim with the FDIC on behalf of the Plaintiff. That claim asserted that the FDIC had caused the Plaintiff to file for bankruptcy and incur personal injury and property damage in the amount of approximately $18.5 million as the result of negligence by David Bigda, the FDIC account officer to whom the Capitol Bank loans were assigned, and other unnamed FDIC personnel. The administrative claim accused Bigda and other FDIC personnel of “deliberately failing to follow FDIC policy and regulations in dealing with the claimant and also failing to deal with claimant fairly in good [sic] and equally with others similarly situated.”

On that same date, the bankruptcy trustee also filed an FTCA claim with the FDIC on behalf of Hargrave alleging damages of $355,000 caused by “[n]egligence on the part of David Bigda and other representatives of FDIC ... in failing to follow the practices and policies established by FDIC in dealing with claimant resulting in loss of assets.”

Both administrative claims made specific reference only to David Bigda and/or the Capitol Bank receivership. Neither of the administrative claims made any reference to the other receiverships.

The Plaintiff commenced this FTCA action against the United States in August of 2010. The Amended Complaint alleges that David Bigda and other employees of the FDIC, acting in their respective capacities as receivers for Capitol Bank, Bank of New England, N.A., Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., and Maine Savings Bank, negligently breached a duty of care owed to the Plaintiff and his companies (Count 1); negligently failed to comply with certain provi[517]*517sions of the FDIC Credit Manual (Count 2); and negligently failed to supervise its agents and employees to insure compliance with FDIC rules, regulations and Manual (Count 3), causing irreparable harm and substantial financial damages.

With respect to the Capitol Bank receivership, the Plaintiffs claims set forth in the Amended Complaint center on the alleged misconduct of David Bigda. Plaintiff alleges that, during the course of their dealings, Bigda acted in bad faith; refused to speak with his attorney; refused to provide Plaintiff with records relating to his loans; consistently refused to give Plaintiff access to the FDIC Credit Manual which stated that it should be provided to borrowers; required Plaintiff to provide financial information “on one certain form, which had language unacceptable to the Plaintiff’; and summarily rejected Plaintiffs proposed work-out plans without making any counter proposals in contravention to the FDIC Credit Manual. Plaintiff also alleges that Bigda either failed to respond to or summarily refused offers by third parties to purchase the Hargrave clubhouse and condominium units, which secured Hargrave’s loans with Capitol.

Plaintiff, as sole shareholder of Hargrave, alleges that he succeeded to Hargrave’s rights with respect to this action and elects to consider the FDIC’s failure to respond within six months to the administrative claims filed on his and Hargrave’s behalf as a final denial of those claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2675.

Analysis

a. Notice of claim requirement

As a general rule, in order to bring suit under the FTCA, a plaintiff must first file an administrative claim with the appropriate agency. 28 U.S.C. § 2675. Failure to file an administrative claim creates a nonwaivable jurisdictional barrier to commencing litigation. 28 U.S.C. § 2675; Santiago-Ramirez v. Sec’y of the Dept. of Defense, 984 F.2d 16, 18-19 (1st Cir.1993). “This process is intended to provide sufficient notice to the United States so that it can investigate the alleged incident of negligence.” Ramírez-Carlo v. United States, 496 F.3d 41, 46 (1st Cir.2007).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
831 F. Supp. 2d 514, 2011 WL 6426161, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147557, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pearson-v-united-states-mad-2011.