SVB Financial Trust v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

District Court, N.D. California·Decided February 27, 2025·No. 5:23-cv-06543·Unknown

Opinion

SVB FINANCIAL TRUST, Case No. 23-cv-06543-BLF

Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND v. DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS THE CORPORATION, [Re: ECF No. 99] Defendant. Before the Court is Defendant Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in its corporate capacity’s (“FDIC-C”) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff SVB Financial Trust’s1 (“Trust”) Amended Complaint. ECF 99 (“Mot.”). The Trust opposes the motion. ECF 100 (“Opp.”). The FDIC-C filed a Reply. ECF 102 (“Reply”). The Court heard oral argument on the motion on January 30, 2024. See ECF 132. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the motion to dismiss. A. Factual Background For purposes of this motion, the Court accepts as true all well-pled facts in the Trust’s Amended Complaint. See ECF 92 (“AC”). Between 2000 and March 2023, SVB Financial Group (“SVBFG”) owned Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) and several other affiliated businesses. AC ¶ 32. SVBFG kept substantially all of its funds deposited at SVB. Id. As of March 10, 2023, SVBFG had on deposit approximately $2.1

1 This action and the related SVB Financial Trust v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as Receiver for Silicon Valley Bank, et al., No. 5:24-cv-01321-BLF (N.D. Cal.) (“FDIC-R Action”) were initially brought by SVB Group (“SVBFG”). See ECF 1; FDIC-R Action, ECF 1. The parties in billion in three separate deposit accounts at SVB. Id. ¶ 33, 72. On March 10, 2023, SVB closed. Id. ¶ 34. On the same day, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”) took possession of SVB and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver (“FDIC-R1”). Id. On the same day, the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara (“DINB”) and transferred all insured deposits of SVB to the DINB. Id. ¶ 36. The FDIC also announced that “[a]ll insured depositors [would] have full access to their insured deposits no later than Monday morning, March 13, 2023.” Id. The FDIC also planned to pay uninsured SVB depositors an advance dividend. Id. Nonetheless, the FDIC’s March 10, 2023, announcement did not calm the market as planned and the FDIC became concerned that uninsured depositors would respond by rapidly withdrawing funds from other banks. Id. ¶ 41. Over the weekend of March 11, 2023, the Department of the Treasury, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve assessed the impact of the closure of SVB and Signature Bank on the American banking system and financial markets. Id. ¶ 42. On March 12, 2023, the boards of both the Federal Reserve and the FDIC unanimously recommended to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that she invoke the systemic risk exception. Id. ¶ 43. After consulting with the President of the United States, Secretary Yellen invoked the Systemic Risk Exception, codified at 12 U.S.C. § 1823(c)(4)(G), to guarantee that all deposits at SVB, regardless of insurance status, would be paid in full and that depositors would immediately have access to their funds. Id. The FDIC, Secretary Yellen and other government officials made public statements confirming that all uninsured deposits at SVB would be covered by the systemic risk exception. Id. ¶¶ 2, 47. For example, on March 12, 2023, Secretary Yellen, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell, and FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg jointly announced that all depositors “[would] have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13.” Id. ¶ 2. Additionally, on March 13, 2023, the FDIC issued a press release stating that “[t]he transfer of all the deposits was completed under the systemic risk exception approved [on March 12, 2023],” and that “[d]epositors will have full access to their money beginning this morning.” Id. ¶¶ 48, 69 (citing AC, Ex. 7 (Press Release, FDIC, On Monday, March 13, 2023, all insured and uninsured deposits, including SVBFG’s deposits at SVB, were transferred to the newly formed Silicon Valley Bridge Bank (“Bridge Bank”). Id. ¶ 3, 68. On March 15 and 16, 2023, SVBFG successfully withdrew approximately $180 million via eight wire transfers. Id. ¶ 73. However, on March 16, 2023, Bridge Bank began rejecting wire transfers, at the direction of senior FDIC-C employees, because FDIC-R1 instructed Bridge Bank to place a hold on SVBFG’s accounts. Id. ¶ 74. With the knowledge and approval from the FDIC- C employees, the FDIC-R1 further directed Bridge Bank to assign SVBFG’s deposit accounts to FDIC-R1, and Bridge Bank did so. Id. ¶ 75. As a result, SVBFG lost access to approximately $1.93 billion of its deposit (“Account Funds”). Id. ¶ 95. On March 17, 2023, SVBFG filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and obtained all rights of a debtor in possession. Id. ¶ 96. On March 27, 2023, Bridge Bank closed and the FDIC was appointed to act as the receiver for Bridge Bank (“FDIC-R2”). Id. ¶ 97 n.8. Substantially all of Bridge Bank’s assets were transferred to First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (“First-Citizens”). Id. ¶ 97. On or around April 3, 2023, the FDIC mailed a letter to Bridge Bank depositors and informed them that “[a]ll deposits [at Silicon Valley Bank] were fully insured” by the FDIC-C, and that “the full amount of your deposit was transferred” to First Citizens. Id. SVBFG’s Account Funds were expressly excluded from the transfer to First Citizens. Id. On June 26, 2023, SVBFG sent a letter to the FDIC-C demanding that the FDIC-C pay or give SVBFG full access to all its uninsured funds pursuant to Secretary Yellen’s invocation of the systemic risk exception. Id. ¶ 104. The FDIC-C did not respond to this letter until months later. Id. On July 9, 2023, SVBFG filed an adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy court against the FDIC- C and both FDIC-Rs. Id. ¶ 105. On August 11, 2023, all three FDIC defendants moved to dismiss the adversary complaint. Id. ¶ 108. On the same day, the FDIC-R1 filed a motion to withdraw the reference to the Bankruptcy Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(d). Id. ¶ 109. On August 15, 2023, the FDIC-C and FDIC-R2 filed non-substantive joinders to the FDIC-R1’s motion to withdraw the reference. Id. On December 13, 2023, Judge John P. Cronan granted the motion to withdraw reference. Id. ¶ 111; see also In re SVB Fin. Grp., No. 23 CIV. 7218 (JPC), 2023 WL 8622521, at On September 14, 2023, the bankruptcy court directed the FDIC-C to provide SVBFG with a statement, in writing, setting forth the applicable rules and procedures that applied to the FDIC- C’s claims process under 12 U.S.C. § 1821(f). AC ¶ 115. On September 19, 2023, the FDIC-C sent SVBFG a letter, which characterized SVBFG’s June 26 letter as a timely claim for insurance coverage under § 1821(f) and informed SVBFG that the FDIC-C would provide a final determination regarding insurance coverage within 30 days. Id. ¶ 116. On October 20, 2023, the FDIC-C denied SVBFG’s claim for insurance coverage because SVBFG had already withdrawn over $250,000 from its accounts at Bridge Bank and because Secretary Yellen’s invocation of the Systemic Risk Exception did not obligate the FDIC-C to follow any particular course of action. Id. ¶¶ 118–19. B. Procedural History The Trust filed this action against the FDIC-C on December 19, 2023. See ECF 1 (“Compl.”). In its Complaint, the Trust brought eight claims for relief: (I) declaratory judgment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201 et seq., id. ¶¶ 105–10; (II) turnover of account funds pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 542, id. ¶¶ 111–20; (III) violation of the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. §

SVB Financial Trust v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, (N.D. Cal. 2025).

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