State of Colorado ex rel. State Banking Board v. First National Bank

540 F.2d 497, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 7480
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 20, 1976
DocketNos. 75-1523, 75-1611, 75-1612
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 540 F.2d 497 (State of Colorado ex rel. State Banking Board v. First National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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State of Colorado ex rel. State Banking Board v. First National Bank, 540 F.2d 497, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 7480 (10th Cir. 1976).

Opinion

McWILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

This appeal concerns the efforts of the First National Bank of Fort Collins, Colora[498]*498do to install an electronic banking facility, commonly known as a customer-bank communications terminal (CBCT), in a regional shopping center situate approximately two miles from its main bank building located in downtown Fort Collins. This CBCT permits the Bank’s customers, through the use of a coded card, to transact any of the following: (1) deposit funds to the customer’s account by placing checks or currency in an envelope and inserting the envelope into a slot in the face of the machine, tapping out the amount of the deposit on the face of the machine and pressing a button to indicate whether the deposit is to be credited to a checking or savings account; (2) withdrawing a pre-packaged packet of either $25 or $50 in currency from the machine and debiting such withdrawal to either the customer’s checking or savings account, or charging it to a Master Charge Account or a Balance Plus Account; or (3) transferring funds from the customer’s savings account to his checking account, or vice versa. See the trial court’s memorandum opinion and order for a detailed statement as to the manner in which a CBCT functions. Colorado ex rel. State Bank Board v. First National Bank, 394 F.Supp. 979 (D.Colo.1975).

The First National Bank of Fort Collins, hereinafter called the Bank, is a national bank. On December 12, 1974, the Comptroller of Currency issued an interpretative ruling which allowed national banks to make available to their customers one or more CBCT’s. In his ruling the Comptroller declared that the use of such devices at locations other than the main office did not constitute branch banking. Acting pursuant to the ruling of the Comptroller, the Bank, as above indicated, installed a CBCT in a shopping center two miles away from its offices in downtown Fort Collins.

The State of Colorado expressly prohibits branch banking, with the exception that, subject to certain conditions, a bank may maintain one detached facility within 3,000 feet of its premises. C.R.S. 1973, 11-6-101(1). The State of Colorado, acting through the State Board of Banking, determined, to its satisfaction, that the CBCT installed and operated by the Bank in the shopping center two miles removed from its main office was a branch bank and prohibited under both federal and state law.

It was in this general setting that the State of Colorado, ex rel. State Banking Board, brought the present proceeding against both the Bank and the Comptroller. The gravamen of the complaint was that the Bank was engaging in branch banking in violation of federal and state law and sought declaratory judgment and permanent injunction; A hearing on a preliminary injunction was by agreement treated as the hearing on permanent injunction.

The trial court concluded that the use of the Bank’s CBCT for receiving deposits constituted branch banking in violation of 12 U.S.C. § 36, but that the other functions of the CBCT did not constitute branch banking and were valid under the Comptroller’s interpretative ruling. Upon the Bank’s assurances that it would follow the trial court’s declaratory judgment without the necessity for an injunction, the trial court granted no injunctive relief.

The State Banking Board now appeals the judgment of the trial court that the withdrawal of money and the transfer of funds from a savings account to a checking account through the use of the CBCT does not constitute branch banking. The Bank and the Comptroller by cross-appeal challenge that part of the trial court’s judgment which declared that the receipt of deposits by the CBCT violated the federal statute regarding branch banking.

The Comptroller, but not the Bank, challenges the standing of the plaintiffs to maintain the present proceeding. The trial court concluded that the plaintiffs did have standing to seek declaratory judgment, citing United States v. SCRAP, 412 U.S. 669, 93 S.Ct. 2405, 37 L.Ed.2d 254 (1973); Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972); Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970); and Jackson v. First National Bank of Valdosta, 349 F.2d 71 (5th Cir. [499]*4991965). We agree that these plaintiffs have standing.

We also agree with the conclusion of the trial court that the off-premises CBCT, insofar as it receives deposits, constitutes branch banking in violation of 12 U.S.C. § 36. In this regard we, like the trial court, find the instant case to be controlled by First National Bank in Plant City v. Dickinson, 396 U.S. 122, 90 S.Ct. 337, 24 L.Ed.2d 312 (1969). In accord, see Independent Bankers Association v. Smith, 534 F.2d 921 (D.C.Cir. 1976); Illinois ex rel. Lignoul v. Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co., 536 F.2d 176 (7th Cir. 1976), petition for cert. filed, 45 U.S.L.W. 3005 (U.S. June 30, 1976) (No. 75-1900); and Missouri ex rel. Kostman v. First National Bank, 538 F.2d 219 (8th Cir. 1976).

As indicated, the trial court additionally concluded that as concerns withdrawals and transfers, the Bank’s off-premises CBCT was not acting as a branch bank, and that such did not offend 12 U.S.C. § 36. With this conclusion we are not in accord.

Since the trial court entered its judgment in the instant case, two Circuits have considered this precise matter, i. e., whether the withdrawal of funds from either a checking account or a savings account, or the transfer of funds from one to the other, through the use of an off-premises CBCT is in violation of the federal rule on branch banking. Both Circuits held that such is in violation of 12 U.S.C. § 36. We agree with the result reached by those Circuits. We feel no need to here elaborate on the matter. It is sufficient to say that we subscribe to Independent Bankers Association v. Smith, 534 F.2d 921 (D.C.Cir. 1976) and Illinois ex rel. Lignoul v. Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co., 536 F.2d 176 (7th Cir. 1976), petition for cert. filed, 45 U.S.L.W.

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540 F.2d 497, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 7480, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-colorado-ex-rel-state-banking-board-v-first-national-bank-ca10-1976.