Progressive Casualty Insurance v. Federal Deposit Insurance

926 F. Supp. 2d 1337, 2013 WL 599794, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28706
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 4, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 1:12-CV-1103-RLV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 926 F. Supp. 2d 1337 (Progressive Casualty Insurance v. Federal Deposit Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Progressive Casualty Insurance v. Federal Deposit Insurance, 926 F. Supp. 2d 1337, 2013 WL 599794, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28706 (N.D. Ga. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

ROBERT L. VINING, JR., Senior District Judge.

This matter is a declaratory judgment action brought by Progressive Casualty Insurance Company (“Progressive”) seeking a declaration that the directors and officers/company liability policy issued by Progressive to Omni National Bank (“Omni” or the “Bank”) does not afford coverage for claims asserted against certain named defendants in a related lawsuit filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (“FDIC-R”). See Fed. Deposit Ins. Co. v. Klein, No. 1:12-cv-896 (N.D.Ga. filed Mar. 16, 2012) (the “FDIC-R receiver action”).

This director and officer liability insurance coverage action arises out of a lawsuit brought by the FDIC-R, as receiver of Omni, against ten former directors, officers, and employees of the Bank (“Ds & Os”). There are several companion suits arising from the same set of facts that have been consolidated for pretrial purposes. The FDIC-R in the underlying suit, i.e., the FDIC-R receiver action, seeks to recover for the negligence and gross negligence of several former Ds & Os of Omni.

On March 27, 2009, the Office of the Controller of the Currency (“OCC”) closed Omni and appointed the FDIC-R as receiver. The FDIC-R asserts claims against seven former Community Development Lending Division (“CDLD”) officers [1339]*1339of Omni for negligence and gross negligence in approving certain loans on low-income residential properties (hereinafter, the “Loss Loans”). The complaint alleges that these CDLD officers approved the Loss Loans despite obvious violations of Omni’s loan policies and procedures, banking regulations, and prudent lending practices. The FDIC-R also asserts claims against two former executives of Omni for negligence and gross negligence for failing to supervise the CDLD lending despite “obvious red flags.” The FDIC-R asserts a few other claims as well. The FDIC-R claims that the loss to the federal Deposit Insurance Fund is estimated at $330.6 million as a result of certain failures at Omni.

I. Parties’ Positions

Progressive has moved for summary judgment in this declaratory judgment action as to some of its claims, arguing that no coverage is available under the D & 0 liability policy because (1) coverage is barred by the “insured versus insured exclusion” in the policy, (2) the FDIC-R seeks to recover financial losses that do not fall under the policy’s definition of covered “loss,” which includes the so-called “loan loss carve-out,” and (3) the FDIC-R asserts some claims based on $12.6 million in “wasteful expenditures” on certain low-income Other Real Estate Owned (“OREO”) properties that are based on wrongful acts that took place after the expiration of Progressive’s D & 0 liability policy, which ended on June 9, 2008.

The FDIC-R responds to Progressive’s instant motion for summary judgment by arguing, inter alia, that the motion is premature because certain provisions of the policy are ambiguous and the FDIC-R has not had a full opportunity to conduct discovery. The FDIC-R supports their opposition with an affidavit that identifies specific areas where the FDIC-R seeks discovery. Progressive contends that the policy is unambiguous and, therefore, discovery is not warranted. Although the FDIC-R doesn’t oppose Progressive’s third argument related to negligence claims based on certain OREO expenditures, several other defendants oppose Progressive’s motion.

II. Discussion

In evaluating the terms of a contract, extrinsic evidence is admissible if a contract is ambiguous. As one court noted, “[a]n insurance contract is ambiguous if it is susceptible to two or more reasonable interpretations that can be fairly made. When one of these interpretations results in coverage and another results in exclusion, ambiguity exists in the insurance policy.” Smith v. Cont’l Cas. Co., 616 F.Supp.2d 1286, 1296 (N.D.Ga.2007). The D & O liability policy defines “loss” as follows:

Loss means Defense Costs and any amount which the Insured Persons or the Company are legally obligated to pay resulting from a Claim, including damages, judgments, settlements.... Loss shall not include ... (3) any unpaid, unrecoverable or outstanding loan, lease or extension of credit to any customer or any forgiveness of debt.

(Policy § TV.N [Doc. No. 47-7].)

The policy also includes a typical D & 0 liability insurance provision known as the “insured versus insured” (“Ivl”) exclusion. The Ivl exclusion states:

The Insurer shall not be liable to make any payment for Loss in connection with any Claim by, on behalf of, or at the behest of the Company, any affiliate of the Company or any Insured Person in any capacity....

(Policy § V. J [Doc. No. 47-7].)

A. Insured versus insured exclusion

Progressive contends that because the policy excludes loss in connection with [1340]*1340any claim “by, on behalf of, or at the behest of the Company,” the Ivl exclusion applies to the FDIC-R action to bar coverage because the FDIC-R “steps into the shoes” of Omni. Therefore, they argue, the FDIC-R’s claims are “by” or “on behalf of’ the failed bank. However, it is unclear whether the FDIC-R’s claims are “by” or “on behalf of’ the failed bank. Furthermore, it is unclear what exactly is encompassed by the phrase “steps into the shoes.” These ambiguities arise, in part, because the FDIC-R differs from other receivers or conservators that might step into the shoes of a failed or insolvent bank. The FDIC-R is tasked, under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, with bringing claims to recover losses suffered by the federal Deposit Insurance Fund and a bank’s depositors, creditors, and shareholders. See 12 U.S.C. §§ 1821(d)(2)(A)(i) & (d)(10)-(ll); § 1823(d)(3)(A). The FDIC-R has multiple roles. Therefore, the FDIC-R has shown that some ambiguity exists in the insured versus insured exclusion.

B. Loan loss carve-out

The FDIC-R has also shown that ambiguity exists in the definition of “loss” because the “loan loss carve-out” does not clearly exempt tortious conduct, which is the basis for the FDIC-R’s claims in the underlying D & 0 liability action. And, although not dispositive, the FDIC-R points to coverage handbooks provided to Omni by Progressive that indicate that the value of charged-off loan losses are covered, not excluded.

C. The FDIC-R’s OREO losses claims

With regard to Progressive’s third argument that coverage should be denied for certain OREO loss claims because the alleged wrongful acts occurred outside of the relevant policy period, the court concludes that Progressive is entitled to summary judgment for the reasons that follow.

Progressive argues that its policy, which ended on June 9, 2008, only covers claims resulting from wrongful acts that occurred prior to the effective date of cancellation, nonrenewal or conversion and are otherwise covered under the policy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
926 F. Supp. 2d 1337, 2013 WL 599794, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/progressive-casualty-insurance-v-federal-deposit-insurance-gand-2013.