Sinclair v. United States

56 Fed. Cl. 270, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 94, 2003 WL 21076834
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedApril 18, 2003
DocketNo. 00-598C
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 56 Fed. Cl. 270 (Sinclair v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sinclair v. United States, 56 Fed. Cl. 270, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 94, 2003 WL 21076834 (uscfc 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

MILLER, Judge.

This case comes for decision on defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff lender argues that the Government breached its contract with him. Having not disapproved his acquisition of a small national bank, plaintiff contends that the Government agreed to his proceeding with a business plan to offer sub-prime loans. Defendant rejects the proposition that a contract was formed, denying that a meeting of the minds occurred. It is defendant’s position that the regulatory activities to which plaintiffs banking activities were subject do not satisfy the prerequisites for an implied-in-fact contract and, in any event, that the regulatory personnel with whom plaintiff dealt lacked authority to bind the Government. Argument on this second dispositive motion is deemed unnecessary.

FACTS

The following facts are undisputed, unless otherwise noted. The facts are drawn from plaintiffs complaint, the proposed findings of fact, plaintiffs certification, and the court’s earlier opinion in this matter. See Sinclair v. United States, 49 Fed.Cl. 274 (2001) (denying motion to dismiss and allowing plaintiff to establish facts supporting forbearance from regulation, authority, and claim for promissory estoppel).

Damian Sinclair (“plaintiff’) sought to acquire the Northwest National Bank (“NWNB”), a small national bank in Arkansas. Although he possessed more than 30 years’ experience in consumer finance, plaintiff “had no background in traditional banking and no experience working with bank regulators.” Certification of Damian Sinclair, Jan. 7, 2003,114 (“Sinclair Cert.”).

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) is the agency within the United States Department of the Treasury charged with supervising national banks and with enforcing the Change in Bank Control Act of 1978, 12 U.S.C. § 1817© (2003) (the “CBCA”), the statute governing changes in ownership of national banks. Accordingly, plaintiff met with officials from the OCC on [272]*272December 14, 1999, to discuss his proposed acquisition of NWNB.1

Based on his past success in implementing such programs, plaintiff presented a business plan whereby NWNB would focus on sub-prime lending to low-income and minority borrowers. Plaintiff alleges that the OCC staff present at the December 14,1999 meeting indicated that, subject to the necessary application to the OCC, they “had no problem, in concept,” with plaintiffs proposed business plan. Compl. filed Oct. 4, 2000, 1116.

Approximately one week after the meeting, plaintiff submitted a letter of intent, dated December 23, 1999, to Kim Hendren, NWNB’s Chairman, that confirmed plaintiffs plan to acquire 100% of NWNB’s common stock at $34.375 per share, for a total purchase price of approximately $2.75 million. Plaintiff executed this letter on December 24, 1999, and Mr. Hendren did the same on December 29,1999.

Pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 1817(j)(l) of the CBCA, plaintiff was required to file a notice with the OCC detailing, inter alia, certain personal, business, and financial information about the bank acquirers; the terms of the proposed acquisition; and the source of the funds to be used in purchasing the bank. The CBCA also requires the disclosure of any plans to “make any other major change in [the target bank’s] business or corporate structure or management.” 12 U.S.C. § 1817(j)(6)(E).

On or about December 31, 1999, plaintiff filed the required notice with the OCC. Karen H. Bryant, Acting Licensing Manager for the OCC’s Southwestern District Office, was the OCC official directly in charge of evaluating his notice. See Sinclair Cert. II5. Included in the notice were details regarding plaintiffs proposed three-year business plan for NWNB. Plaintiff summarizes this plan as follows: (1) NWNB would invest approximately 440% of its capital in used car loans and 300% of its capital in manufactured home loans; (2) it would purchase the loans in bulk from Stevens Financial Group, Inc., a company formerly owned by plaintiff, but sold prior to submitting the change-in-control notice; and (3) Stevens Financial would post a 10% reserve to protect NWNB against losses on the purchased loans and would service the loans for a fee. See PL’s Resp. to Def.’s Proposed Finding of Fact No. 1, filed Jan. 15,2003.

After submitting the change-in-control notice, plaintiff supplemented it with “voluminous materials,” Sinclair Cert, f 8, as well as with additional correspondence, in-person presentations, and telephonic communications. He also responded to “scores of questions” asked by the OCC, believing that the additional information requested by OCC indicated that the agency was evaluating plaintiffs notice “carefully in order to make the decision as to whether it would allow [plaintiff] to carry out the business plan.” Id. H13.

The OCC was required to investigate plaintiffs change-in-control notice to determine whether grounds existed to disapprove the proposed transaction. See 12 U.S.C. § 1817(j)(2)(B). Unless it invokes certain prescribed exceptions, the OCC is allowed 60 days within which to issue a “notice disapproving the proposed acquisition.”2 12 U.S.C. § 1817(j)(l). The pertinent regulations also allow the OCC to inform the notifi-cant if it disapproves an acquisition, or if it elects not to do so. See 12 C.F.R. § 5.50(f)(3)(iii) (2003). If the OCC fails to act during the 60-day period, the acquisition may proceed. 12 U.S.C. § 1817(j)(l). Under this statutory framework, the OCC had until approximately March 1, 2000, to act on plaintiffs notice.

[273]*273On February 28, 2000, plaintiff spoke by telephone with John A. Bodnar, the District Deputy Controller for the OCC’s Southwestern District Office and the senior OCC official responsible for assessing plaintiffs notice to acquire NWNB. According to plaintiff, Mr. Bodnar indicated that he would not allow a national bank to make loans “ ‘to those kind of people,’ ”3 Sinclair Cert. If 15, causing plaintiff to believe that, “at that point, the entire deal was off,” id. If 16. Mr. Sinclair acknowledged the conversion in an e-mail sent later that day, in which he informed Mr. Bodnar that, during a previous attempt to acquire a state-chartered bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) had informed plaintiff that it might require additional capital if plaintiff wanted to implement a business plan centered on sub-prime lending. The e-mail indicated that plaintiff would agree to a higher capital requirement if given the opportunity to have that requirement reduced based on the future performance of NWNB and the loans.

Mr. Bodnar telephoned plaintiff on February 29, 2000, to advise that, if plaintiff would agree to holding additional capital,4

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Bluebook (online)
56 Fed. Cl. 270, 2003 U.S. Claims LEXIS 94, 2003 WL 21076834, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sinclair-v-united-states-uscfc-2003.