Reisig v. Resolution Trust Corp.

806 P.2d 397, 15 Brief Times Rptr. 92, 1991 Colo. App. LEXIS 28, 1991 WL 10276
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 31, 1991
Docket90CA0228
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 806 P.2d 397 (Reisig v. Resolution Trust Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reisig v. Resolution Trust Corp., 806 P.2d 397, 15 Brief Times Rptr. 92, 1991 Colo. App. LEXIS 28, 1991 WL 10276 (Colo. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge ROTHENBERG.

Plaintiff, Larry J. Reisig, appeals the summary judgment entered in favor of defendant, Resolution Trust Corporation, (RTC) as receiver for Colorado Savings and Loan Association. We affirm.

In May 1986, plaintiff executed a loan commitment, promissory note, and loan rider with Colorado Savings. Plaintiff received a $486,750 loan to improve his residential rental property located on Del Mar Parkway. The loan commitment and promissory note provided for a fixed interest rate. However, the loan rider which amended and supplemented the promissory note provided for a variable interest rate.

Plaintiff also executed a deed of trust securing payment of the note. It provided that Colorado Savings was entitled to collect any insurance proceeds arising from claims on the Del Mar property.

In July 1987, plaintiff executed a $370,-000 promissory note in favor of Colorado Savings for a loan to improve residential rental property located on Dallas Street. This second note provided for a fixed interest rate for the first year and a variable interest rate thereafter.

In January 1989, a fire destroyed the Del Mar property, and plaintiffs insurance company paid him approximately $46,000.

Plaintiff then defaulted on both notes. Colorado Savings foreclosed on the Del Mar property and bid $212,500, leaving a deficiency of $335,510.

In May 1989, plaintiff sued Colorado Savings for fraud, fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation, and promissory estoppel. He also sought declaratory relief for fraud in the inducement and equitable estoppel. Plaintiff claimed that he entered into both loan agreements based upon verbal representations by a Colorado Savings loan officer that both loans would eventually provide him with long term fixed rate assumable financing.

Colorado Savings then failed, and Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) was appointed conservator. The FSLIC counterclaimed against plaintiff and sued for the unpaid amounts loaned to plaintiff and also for the fire insurance proceeds paid to him.

In November 1989, Resolution Trust Corporation was substituted for FSLIC. RTC moved for summary judgment which was granted. Plaintiffs motion for amendment of the judgment to include a $46,000 reduction and a $486,750 credit was denied.

I.

A.

Plaintiff first argues that the trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment based on the doctrine enumerated in D’Oench, Duhme & Co., Inc. v. FDIC, 315 U.S. 447, 62 S.Ct. 676, 86 L.Ed. 956 (1942). We disagree.

In D’Oench, the United States Supreme Court held that the maker of a note was estopped from asserting as a defense *399 against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) the fact that the maker had an alleged oral agreement which excused payment. The Supreme Court’s decision was based on federal policy which was to protect the FDIC from misrepresentations regarding the genuineness or integrity of securities held by the banks it insured.

The D’Oench ruling has spawned a progeny of cases which now protect federal banking authorities from all claims and defenses based upon unwritten agreements, whether or not these claims and defenses might otherwise be allowed. These barred claims and defenses include those alleged by plaintiff Reisig.

In Mainland Savings Ass’n v. Riverfront Ass’n, Ltd., 872 F.2d 955, 956 (10th Cir.1989), the court stated:

“In D’Oench ... the Supreme Court established that the debtor’s signing of a facially unqualified note subject to an unwritten and unrecorded condition constitutes an arrangement which is likely to mislead federal insurers in contravention of the policy to protect them in their evaluation of financial institutions....
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“[T]he D’Oench doctrine survives as an independent basis for protecting the FSLIC from undisclosed agreements. Consequently, the defenses which may be asserted against federal banking authorities seeking to collect assets of insolvent financial institutions are limited.” Subsequent decisions have held that the

D’Oench ruling applies even if a maker’s conduct was innocent and even if the bank’s conduct was wrongful. See FSLIC v. LeFeve, 676 F.Supp. 764, 769 (S.D.Miss.1987):

“Thus, even innocent victims acting in good faith are not spared when the D’Oench doctrine applies. [T]he banking policy of the United States ... is clear: those who deal with banks must bear the risk of transactions that would tend to defeat the rights of deposit insurers like FSLIC.... D’Oench bars defenses based upon fraud and misrepresentation even in eases in which the maker of the note acts in good faith.”

Here, plaintiff Reisig signed facially unqualified promissory notes subject to alleged verbal agreements that contradict their terms. The trial court properly ruled that D’Oench bars plaintiff from asserting such defenses against the RTC. See Castleglen, Inc. v. Commonwealth Savings Ass’n, 728 F.Supp. 656 (D.Utah 1989).

B.

Plaintiff next argues that D’Oench does not apply because he is an innocent party and there is a failure of consideration. We disagree.

In FDIC v. Meo, 505 F.2d 790 (9th Cir.1974), the court held that a note maker who is unaware of the bank’s wrongful actions may be an innocent party and may assert a failure of consideration defense. There, plaintiff executed a promissory note to purchase bank’s common stock; however, the bank instead issued voting trust certificates without plaintiff’s knowledge. Thus, plaintiff was held to be an innocent party and allowed to assert a failure of consideration defense.

Here, however, plaintiff Reisig is not an “innocent party” as defined by the holding in Meo because he knew of the bank’s representations and participated in the arrangement. See Bowen v. FDIC, 915 F.2d 1013 (5th Cir.1990) (D’Oench applies even if the borrower acted in good faith).

Further, there was no failure of consideration as to Reisig since he received all sums in the promissory notes. See FDIC v. First National Finance Co., 587 F.2d 1009 (9th Cir.1978) (if loan proceeds are paid in full, there is no failure of consideration); and FSLIC v. Musacchio, 695 F.Supp.

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806 P.2d 397, 15 Brief Times Rptr. 92, 1991 Colo. App. LEXIS 28, 1991 WL 10276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reisig-v-resolution-trust-corp-coloctapp-1991.