Village Bank v. Seikel

1972 OK 123, 503 P.2d 550, 1972 Okla. LEXIS 416
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 19, 1972
Docket45492
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1972 OK 123 (Village Bank v. Seikel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Village Bank v. Seikel, 1972 OK 123, 503 P.2d 550, 1972 Okla. LEXIS 416 (Okla. 1972).

Opinion

JACKSON, Justice.

This is a proceeding to review the decision of the Court of Bank Review reversing the order of the Banking Board which had denied an application for certificate of authority to engage in the banking business in a proposed banking service area in northwest Oklahoma City. For the reasons we will set forth, we grant certiorari and reverse the decision of the Court of Bank Review and affirm the order of the Banking Board.

This is the first opinion we have published applicable to a bank charter application filed since the effective date of the amendment to 6 O.S.1971, § 207, which provides for a changed procedure of court review of final orders of the Banking Board. Section 207 was amended effective April 27, 1970, and now provides for review by this court by certiorari. Prior to 1970, our review was by appeal. We have not yet prescribed by rule the scope of our review nor the time and manner for perfecting the proceeding, as provided for in subsection D of Section 207, and the petitioners herein (protestants in the proceeding before the Banking Board) followed the procedure in effect heretofore by “appealing” from the Court of Bank Review. Respondents, (applicants in the Banking Board proceeding) do not urge dismissal of the present proceeding because of any procedural defect. Both parties have presented skillful briefs which have enabled us to review the decision of the Court of Bank Review adequately and properly. The parties will be referred to as they appeared before the Banking Board.

In our review of the decision of the Court of Bank Review, we first determine what the decision of that Court was, and, second, whether that Court made a proper review of the order of the Banking Board. The decision by the Court of Bank Review was to reverse the order of the Banking Board and to direct the Board to grant the application of the applicants upon their meeting all other statutory or administrative requirements. This decision was based on the following findings by the Court of Bank Review as shown by its “journal entry of judgment:”

“This Court of Bank Review has carefully reviewed, and made an appraisement of the record in its entirety, and cannot conscientiously find that the evidence supporting the Board’s decision is substantial, when viewed in the light that the record in its entirety furnishes, including the body of evidence opposed to the Board’s view.
“This Court of Bank Review finds that the substantial evidence in the record does induce the conviction that there is a sufficient economic base within the community which the proposed bank seeks to serve to afford reasonable promise of such bank’s successful operation; that the community’s potential for economic growth is sound; and that the public need and advantage will be promoted by the granting of Applicants’ request for a Charter.”

*552 The powers of the Court of Bank Review were not changed by the 1970 statutory amendment referred to above. That Court’s powers are the same as they were when the section was first enacted in 1965. The Court of Bank Review is not a substitute for the Banking Board in the issuance of certificates to engage in the banking business. Vose v. Banking Board, Okl., 483 P.2d 731. Subsection C of Section 207 permits the Court of Bank Review to affirm or reverse an order of the Banking Board on any one of four statutory grounds. The statutory ground for reversal relied on by the Court of Bank Review in this case, as seen by the above findings, was that the order of the Board was “not supported by substantial evidence in the record.” The Court of Bank Review erred in reversing the Banking Board on that ground.

The applicants and the protestants agree that the Banking Board’s order denying the application for a charter must be affirmed if there is substantial evidence supporting it. The review to be made by the Court of Bank Review (and by this court on certiorari) is the same character of review that this court makes in an appeal from an order of the Corporation Commission whenever it reviews the evidence to determine whether there is substantial evidence to sustain a Corporation Commission order. The reviewing court is required to review, but not weigh, the evidence in an appeal of this nature. Producers Development Co. v. Magna Oil Corp., Okl., 371 P.2d 702. In Yellow Transit Co. v. State, 198 Okl. 229, 178 P.2d 83, we held:

“The determination whether there is ‘substantial evidence’ to support an order made by Corporation Commission does not require that the evidence be weighed, but only that the evidence tending to support the order be considered to determine whether it implies a quality of proof which induces the conviction that the order was proper or furnishes a substantial basis of facts from which the issue tendered could be reasonably resolved.” (Emphasis supplied)

We have reviewed all the evidence introduced at the hearing before the Banking Board, consisting of the testimony of experts in various fields, and find that the evidence supporting the Board’s decision has substance and carries with it fitness to induce conviction that (1) the public need and advantage will not be promoted by the establishment of the proposed bank and that (2) conditions in the community in which the bank would transact business do not afford reasonable promise of successful operation. Where the evidence supporting the Board’s decision has substance and carries with it fitness to induce conviction, there is substantial evidence to support the decision. Yellow Transit Co. v. State, supra. Under the statutes the Banking Board must ascertain to its satisfaction the affirmative of the two conditions above mentioned (together with five others) in order to approve an-application for a bank charter, 6 O.S.1971, § 306, subd. F, whether there is, or is not, a protest.

We said, in the Yellow Transit Co. case, supra, only the evidence tending to support the order is to be considered by the reviewing court when it makes a determination as to whether there is substantial evidence tending to support the order. The Court of Bank Review stated in its finding herein that the Banking Board’s order was not substantial “when viewed in the light that the record in its entirety furnishes, including the body of evidence opposed to the Board’s view.” This review by the Court of Bank Review was improper. We do not say that the Court is not to review the entire record, but it is not to consider the “evidence opposed to the Board’s view” in making its determination of whether the order is stipported by substantial evidence in the record unless the evidence opposing the Board’s view is such as to destroy the probative value of the evidence introduced in support of the Board’s order. The reviewing court is to construe *553 the evidence in its entirety, but it is allowed to reverse the order only when it is unable to find substantial evidence supporting the order. For an example of such a case, see Appeal of Cummings and McIntyre, Okl., 319 P.2d 602.

In the instant case the question on appeal to the Court of Bank Review was whether the finding by the Banking Board, i.

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Bluebook (online)
1972 OK 123, 503 P.2d 550, 1972 Okla. LEXIS 416, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/village-bank-v-seikel-okla-1972.