Salinas Valley Community Federal Credit Union v. National Credit Union Administration

564 F. Supp. 701, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16753
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 23, 1983
DocketNo. C-83-2009 RFP
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 564 F. Supp. 701 (Salinas Valley Community Federal Credit Union v. National Credit Union Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salinas Valley Community Federal Credit Union v. National Credit Union Administration, 564 F. Supp. 701, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16753 (N.D. Cal. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

PECKHAM, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

In this action, plaintiff seeks a preliminary injunction to prevent the National Credit Union Administration from liquidating plaintiff Salinas Valley Federal Credit Union without first affording plaintiff an adequate opportunity to present grounds and reasons why its charter should be restored and why it should not be placed in involuntary liquidation. On April 22, this court issued an order temporarily restraining defendant from making payment on insured accounts or payments to any other claimants against the assets of the credit union and from taking any other action that would render impracticable the restoration of plaintiff’s charter and the resump[703]*703tion of plaintiff’s operations. Plaintiff contends that the due process clause of the fifth amendment requires that the NCUA provide the credit union with a hearing prior to the irreparable revocation of its charter and its involuntary liquidation. Although the constraints of due process generally require, at the minimum, that some form of notice and opportunity for informal response be made available prior to the extinguishment of a person’s property interest, we hold that, in order to justify an award of extraordinary preliminary relief, a plaintiff must demonstrate that such procedural safeguards will be meaningful, that is, that relevant and material issues of fact exist which would be resolved by such procedures. The plaintiff in the present case has failed to adduce evidence sufficient to raise such serious issues of fact. We therefore conclude that the request for a preliminary injunction must be denied.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The NCUA is the independent agency in the executive branch of the federal government which charters, supervises and insures federal credit unions under the Federal Credit Union Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 1751-1795j. Federal credit unions are cooperative associations organized “for the purpose of promoting thrift among their members and creating a source of credit for provident or productive purposes.” 12 U.S.C. § 1752(1). The Salmas Valley Credit Union was chartered December 2, 1968, to serve residents within a 10-mile radius of Soledad, California. It was designated a low-income credit union; it primarily serves farmworkers in the community. Its operation during the first ten years was variable, but it was strong enough in 1979 to expand and serve residents within a 20-mile radius.

An examination by the NCUA in 1978 demonstrated that the credit union was doing well and had a solid rating. From 1981 to the present, however, the organization has deteriorated substantially. The Declaration of Paul S. Schumacher, a Review Analyst for the NCUA, details this deterioration. An examination in January of 1981 revealed that the credit union was suffering numerous financial and operational problems. The amount of delinquent loans totaled a significant percentage of outstanding loans; collection problem loans represented a substantial percentage (96%) of total reserves; the credit union had no formal collection program nor were collection efforts being made; the individual share ledgers and the loan ledgers were not in balance with the general ledger control accounts; the Unapplied Data Processing Account contained further unlocated share and loan differences representing a $23,471 loss; the credit union’s checking account statement showed a total which was $42,589 less than their records evidenced, representing another loss; a shortage of almost $10,-000 existed in the change fund, and the credit union could not account for this money; incorrect amortization of prepaid expenses and inadequate depreciation of furniture, fixtures, and equipment resulted in further losses; complete minutes of the monthly board of directors’ meeting for the previous 26 months were not available; the credit committee had granted loans based upon loan applications which did not contain complete information and were unsigned by the applicant; a functioning supervisory committee was not in place, although federal law requires the existence of such a committee and directs that it conduct an internal audit every year; the share to asset ratio was 95 — a ratio of 100 represents solvency. In light of these conditions, the examiner prepared and presented Records of Actions in which he set forth the procedures to be followed to correct the problems. The credit union was assigned an Early Warning System rating of “5” (unsatisfactory). As a result of the above, the Regional Director issued a Preliminary Warning Letter to the credit union officials on April 30, 1981.

Despite this letter, the credit union continued its extremely poor financial and organizational situation. Many of the above conditions persisted. Mr. Schumacher states that from January, 1981, to February, 1983, the union was never solvent. The share/asset ration was never higher than 97 [704]*704and averaged 95. In February, 1983, the ratio had fallen to 84. Bookkeeping remained inadequate. The internal audit required by federal law was never completed, the last audit having occurred in 1978. The credit union was consistently unable to keep track of share deposits and loan payments; the general ledger repeatedly did not coincide with the individual shareholder cards or loan payment records. The total shares in the credit union declined by more than half from May, 1981, to February, 1983.

The NCUA made extensive efforts to assist the credit union. It examined the credit union on numerous occasions: January, 1981; May, 1981; July, 1981; August, 1981; February, 1982; November, 1982; and February, 1983. After each examination (except the last), the examiner staff worked with credit union officials to develop Records of Action to assist in resolving the credit union’s problems. The EWS code of 5 continued throughout; five notices to this effect were sent to the credit union. From 1981 through early May, 1982, the National Association of Community Development Credit Unions offered assistance to the credit union; this, apparently, was the most positive period for the credit union. After the departure of this outside help, the credit union deteriorated significantly.

Based upon the extensive historical problems of the credit union, and its severe problems as revealed by the February, 1983, audit, the NCUA determined that the credit union was insolvent. This determination was premised upon the following: the factors resulting in the deficient share/asset ratio (uncontrolled delinquency, uncontrolled expenses, inadequate bookkeeping, and non-existent internal controls) had persisted for an extended period; as a result of the officials’ inability effectively to control operations, continued dissipation of the share/asset ratio (already a precarious 84) was probable in the future; the deficient share/asset ratio would not have returned to normal limits within any estimated reasonable time frame because of the size of the operating deficit and the inability of the officials to control the operation. The NCUA found that the estimated loss to the insurance fund would increase with continued credit union operation for the reasons stated above.

The NCUA issued a Notice declaring insolvency on April 15,1983, which was delivered to the credit union on April 18. With such Notice, the NCUA included a 26-page report outlining the reasons for the finding of insolvency.

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Bluebook (online)
564 F. Supp. 701, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16753, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salinas-valley-community-federal-credit-union-v-national-credit-union-cand-1983.