Women's Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n of Cleveland v. Nevada National Bank

673 F. Supp. 401, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9953
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedAugust 11, 1987
DocketNo. CV-R-82-360-ECR
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 673 F. Supp. 401 (Women's Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n of Cleveland v. Nevada National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Women's Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n of Cleveland v. Nevada National Bank, 673 F. Supp. 401, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9953 (D. Nev. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER

EDWARD C. REED, JR., District Judge.

This case was tried before the Court from January 14 to January 16, 1985. The Court issued a Memorandum Decision and Order on April 19,1985, entering judgment in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $3,918.63. The Court found that the defendant, Nevada National Bank (“NNB”), had breached the Loan Participation Agreement (“LPA”) that the two parties had entered. The Court, however, found that the facts did not warrant rescission as a remedy.

The plaintiff, Women’s Federal Savings and Loan Association (“WOFED”), appealed from the April 19, 1985, Order. RESCISSION

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, finding that breaches by NNB of the LPA did warrant rescission.

It is now the duty of this Court to enter appropriate orders to effect the rescission. On April 1,1987, the Court issued a minute order (docket # 19) requiring the parties to file points and authorities addressing the issue of what steps must be taken to effect rescission. The plaintiff filed points and authorities on May 8, 1987 (docket #93). The defendant also filed points and authorities on May 8, 1987 (docket #94). The plaintiff filed its reply to the defendant’s points and authorities on May 26, 1987 (docket # 95). The defendant filed its reply to plaintiff's points and authorities on May 27, 1987 (docket # 97).

In essence, the LPA required WOFED to contribute $2.5 million of a $2.8 million loan made to John and Barbara Cavanaugh in the name of NNB. Under the contract WOFED received 10%% interest on the $2.5 million loan.

The Court finds that the rescission mandated by the Court of Appeals is effective as of November 5, 1982, the day on which the plaintiff filed its complaint. See Wilson v. Pacific Maxon, Inc., 100 Nev. 479, 686 P.2d 235 (1984). Rescission of the LPA would be accomplished by putting the parties, as nearly as possible, in the positions they occupied prior to entering the LPA. This requires that the balance of the $2.5 million loan be returned to WOFED. The parties agree that in March, 1987, the defendant paid to WOFED the outstanding principal balance and accrued interest at the rate of 10%%.

The only remaining issue, then, is the appropriate interest rate.

The contractual interest rate, applicable during the time the LPA was in effect, was 10%%. That is the amount that WOFED earned on its loan of $2.5 million under the terms of the LPA prior to rescission of that contract. After November 5, 1982, the date of rescission, the issue of interest is an issue of prejudgment interest. After November 5, 1982, the LPA could have no effect on the parties’ relationship. After that date, the statutory rate of prejudgment interest applies; the statutory rate in Nevada is 12%. See NRS § 99.040. See also Wilson v. Pacific Maxon, Inc., 100 Nev. 479, 686 P.2d 235 (1984) (The statutory rate of prejudgment interest in Nevada after July 1, 1981, is 12%.).

In order to effect the rescission mandated by the Court of Appeals, NNB must pay to WOFED the difference between the statutory rate of interest (12%) and the contractual rate of interest (10%%) on the outstanding principal balance between November 5, 1982, and the date on'which the balance was paid to WOFED. The plaintiff indicates that the difference is $211,090.06. The defendant does not take issue with that calculation.

Plaintiff also takes the position that in order to effect the rescission it is necessary that NNB pay to WOFED the %% fee that NNB earned on the WOFED money be[403]*403tween November 5, 1982, and the date on which NNB paid the principal balance to WOFED. The recovery contemplated in this regard by WOFED is not necessary to put WOFED in the position it was in prior to entering the contract. Rescission is accomplished if WOFED recovers its principal along with the appropriate interest. The appropriate interest is the contractual rate of 10Vs% prior to November 5, 1982, when the LPA is deemed to have been in effect, and the statutory rate of 12% for the time after rescission of the LPA and until the principal balance was paid to WOFED.

DISGORGEMENT

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded this Court’s finding that disgorgement of profits earned by NNB is not warranted in this case. The Court of Appeals stated that the case is remanded “for reconsideration of the appropriateness of the remedy of disgorgement in light of the principles set forth in this opinion.” Women’s Fed. Sav. and Loan Ass’n v. Nevada Nat’l Bank, 811 F.2d 1255, 1260 (9th Cir.1987).

The Court of Appeals found that NNB violated a fiduciary duty not to compete with WOFED. The Court of Appeals said:

Finally, it is a basic principle of trust law that a fiduciary should refrain from competing in any way with the beneficiary. See, e.g., Xum Speegle, Inc. v. Fields, 216 Cal.App.2d 546, 31 Cal.Rptr. 104 (1963) (a corporate director breaches his fiduciary duty when he acquires information about the business and then resigns and uses the information to develop a competing business); Sauvage v. Gallaway, 329 Ill.App. 38, 66 N.E.2d 740 (1946) (trustee of a billboard advertising business should be enjoined from operating competing business on his own account); 2 A. Scott, The Law of Trusts, § 170.23 (3d ed. 1967). NNB violated this basic fiduciary duty by extending more than $2 million in secondary financing to the Cavanaughs without informing WOFED and seeking its consent.
NNB protests that the secondary financing did not create a conflict of interest, because NNB’s security interest pursuant to the second deed of trust was junior to WOFED’s and would not compete with WOFED’s in the event of a foreclosure sale. Short of a foreclosure sale, however, there is an obvious conflict of interest present when a cash-poor borrower is obliged to make separate monthly payments to both the beneficiary and the trustee. This is particularly true where, as here, the payment to the trustee is more than twice as large as the payment to the beneficiary.

Women’s Fed. Sav. and Loan Ass’n v. Nevada Nat’l Bank, 811 F.2d at 1259.

The Court recognizes that there is language in the Court of Appeals’ opinion which could be read to indicate that the question whether NNB breached its duty not to compete is left open on remand:

If the district court finds that, by extending the unauthorized secondary financing, NNB was competing with its fiduciary, WOFED, disgorgement would not be an inappropriate remedy.

Id. at 1260. However, this Court’s resolution of the issue whether NNB breached the duty not to compete, if indeed it remains an issue on remand, is guided significantly by the general tenor as well as by specific conclusions in the Court of Appeals’ opinion.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
673 F. Supp. 401, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9953, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/womens-federal-savings-loan-assn-of-cleveland-v-nevada-national-bank-nvd-1987.