Suess v. United States

33 Fed. Cl. 89, 1995 U.S. Claims LEXIS 52, 1995 WL 114785
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMarch 17, 1995
DocketNo. 90-981 C
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 33 Fed. Cl. 89 (Suess 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
Suess v. United States, 33 Fed. Cl. 89, 1995 U.S. Claims LEXIS 52, 1995 WL 114785 (uscfc 1995).

Opinion

SMITH, Chief Judge.

This case is currently before the court on the defendant’s motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs, former shareholders in a failed savings & loan association, have alleged that the United States breached certain contractual agreements for regulatory forebearances in the operation of Benjamin Franklin Federal Savings and Loan Association of Portland, Oregon (Ben Franklin). The government argues that this court does not have jurisdiction over the shareholders’ suit and that even if it did, the shareholders would lack the requisite standing to maintain it. Proceedings in this case are currently stayed, pursuant to this court’s order of June 3, 1993 in Winstar Corp., et al. v. United States, No. 90-8C. Without disturbing the effect of this stay, the court now denies defendant’s motion to dismiss insofar as it is based on the arguments that (1) this court has no jurisdiction over derivative suits such as that brought by the plaintiffs; (2) that plaintiffs do not have the requisite standing to bring their claims; and (3) certain provisions of the Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) preclude plaintiffs’ suit.

FACTS1

Plaintiffs, shareholders of Ben Franklin, seek to recover approximately $181,000,000 for the loss of the value of their stock due to the government’s breach of contractual agreements and the seizure of Ben Franklin. There are no longer any officers or directors of Ben Franklin and the receiver, the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), will not bring this suit against the United States. Plaintiffs allege that their shares became worthless when the government, through the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the RTC, took over the association on February 21, 1990, placed it in conservatorship, sold most of its assets, and finally placed it in receivership on September 7, 1990. OTS took over Ben Franklin pursuant to its interpretation of the Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), Pub.L. No. 101-73, 103 Stat. 183, enacted August 9, 1989.

Ben Franklin was a well managed thrift whose operations comprised 30% of the savings and loan market in Oregon. It was strong enough in 1982 to be able to acquire Equitable Savings and Loan Association (Equitable), a thrift in imminent danger of failing.2 The excess cost of the acquisition of Equitable over its fair market value, known as “goodwill,”3 was $343 million. Ben Franklin was able to acquire Equitable without endangering its own solvency only because the government, through the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle (FHLB-Seattle) agreed to certain forbearances, allowing Ben Franklin to carry the goodwill on its books as a capital asset while [91]*91amortizing it over 40 years.4 By so agreeing, the government was able to avoid having to pay many millions of dollars to the depositors of Equitable. Ben Franklin would thus be able to absorb the cost of the acquisition over a long period of time, and remain in compliance with the regulatory requirements.

In 1985, the government again approached Ben Franklin, this time inviting it to bid on the acquisition of Western Heritage Federal Savings and Loan Association (Western Heritage), another failing thrift institution. A similar transaction took place, this time resulting in approximately $6,800,000 in goodwill, which the government again agreed could be carried as a capital asset on Ben Franklin’s books amortized over 25 years. In addition, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) made an $8,800,000 cash contribution, which, under forebearances granted by FHLBB to facilitate the acquisition, was added directly to Ben Franklin’s regulatory capital. Further, the FSLIC agreed to indemnify Ben Franklin against certain liabilities up to $5,000,000. Lastly, FSLIC granted forbearances on the calculation of regulatory capital requirements for five years.5

In 1986, Ben Franklin converted from a mutual association to a stock association. FHLBB conditioned its approval of the conversion upon certain modifications of the agreements pertaining to these acquisitions, specifically that the amortization period for the goodwill resulting from the Equitable acquisition be reduced from 40 to 82 years. The goodwill on the Western Heritage acquisition was apparently not affected. Ben Franklin’s prospectus notified prospective stock owners that Ben Franklin carried $322,400,000 of goodwill as of June 30, 1986. Apparently, the various agreements between Ben Franklin and the government were “reaffirmed and modified” in 1986 to take into account Ben Franklin’s transformation into a shareholder-owned institution.

On August 9, 1989, in response to the crisis in the savings and loan industry, Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, Pub.L. No. 101-73, 103 Stat. 183 (1989). FIRREA created the Office of Thrift Supervision. 12 U.S.C. § 1462a (Supp.1993). The OTS was placed under the general oversight of the Department of the Treasury and made responsible for “the examination, safe and sound operation, and regulation of savings associations.” 12 U.S.C. §§ 1462a, 1463 (Supp.1993). FIRREA also established the Resolution Trust Corporation, a corporation “deemed to be an agency of the United States to the same extent as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC] when it is acting as a conservator or receiver of an insured depository institution.” 12 U.S.C. § 1441a(b) (Supp.1993). The RTC was created to manage and resolve all cases involving savings and loan associations closed between January 1989 and September 1993 and was given conservatorship and receivership powers similar to those held by the FDIC. 12 U.S.C. § 1441a(b) (Supp.1993).

The passage of FIRREA, as interpreted and enforced by OTS, included new limitations on the inclusion of goodwill and cash contributions in regulatory capital, as well as shortened amortization periods. These changes resulted in the overnight insolvency of Ben Franklin. OTS took over the thrift on February 21, 1990, despite the facts that, among other things, it had experienced a substantial increase in net worth, had realized a profit for 16 consecutive calendar quarters preceding passage of FIRREA, and had submitted a capital plan to bring it into compliance with FIRREA. In addition, there was no evidence of mismanagement on the part of Ben Franklin’s officers and directors.

In September, 1990, the named shareholders filed this suit on behalf of Ben Franklin. Approximately 1220 other shareholders owning over 1,140,000 shares had contributed to the funding of this case at the time of the [92]*92filing of the Amended Complaint. In its response brief, plaintiffs’ counsel represented that the number of contributors was 2270, constituting almost half of the shareholders. Plaintiffs seek damages for breach of contract, rescission, and taking of property without due process of law or just compensation.

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Bluebook (online)
33 Fed. Cl. 89, 1995 U.S. Claims LEXIS 52, 1995 WL 114785, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/suess-v-united-states-uscfc-1995.