Blackstone Valley Nat. Bank v. Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System, 76-1157

• Decision Date: 25 June 1976
• Docket Number: No. 76-1157,76-1157
• Citation: 537 F.2d 1146
• Parties: BLACKSTONE VALLEY NATIONAL BANK, Petitioner, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF the FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 1146

537 F.2d 1146

36 A.L.R.Fed. 345

BLACKSTONE VALLEY NATIONAL BANK, Petitioner, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF the FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, Respondent.

No. 76-1157.

United States Court of Appeals First Circuit.

Argued June 4, 1976.

Decided June 25, 1976.

James C. Heigham, Boston, Mass., with whom Allen M. Bornheimer and Choate, Hall & Stewart, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for petitioner.

Morton Hollander, Atty., Appellate Section, Civil Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., with whom Rex E. Lee, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Michael Kimmel, Atty., Appellate Section, Civil Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for respondent.

Before COFFIN, Chief Judge, McENTEE and CAMPBELL, Circuit Judges.

CAMPBELL, Circuit Judge.

The Blackstone Valley National Bank brings this petition for review, under 12 U.S.C. § 1848, of a Federal Reserve Board decision to deny a bank holding company's application to acquire Blackstone under 12 U.S.C. § 1842. Although it did not participate in the proceedings before the Board, Blackstone now urges that the application should be "deemed to have been granted" under 12 U.S.C. § 1842(b), since the Board allegedly failed to act within 91 days after the record was complete.

The holding company, First National Boston Corporation ^BC filed an application to acquire Blackstone on September 15, 1975; the Board gave public notice of the application on October 1, 1975; and the Massachusetts Board of Bank Incorporation approved the transaction on November 4, 1975. At this point the Board considered the application complete, and on January 14, 1976, voted to deny the application. Before issuing an order to this effect, however, the Board discovered that the New York Times was about to publish an article portraying FNBC as a "problem" bank; and to avoid appearing to confirm the report by its action, the Board voted to reconsider. FNBC thereafter supplemented the record with its year-end financial reports, and the Comptroller of the Currency reported favorably on the application, but on March 1, 1976, the Board again voted to deny the application. Its final order was issued on March 18, 1976. FNBC sought neither reconsideration of the Board's order nor review in this court.

12 U.S.C. § 1848 permits any "party aggrieved" by an order under § 1842 to obtain review in a specified court of appeals. As a general rule, to qualify as a "party aggrieved" a petitioner must have participated in the administrative proceedings. First Nat'l Bank of St. Charles v. Board of Governors, 509 F.2d 1004, 1008 (8th Cir. 1975); see Gage v. Aec, 156 U.S.App.D.C. 231, 479 F.2d 1214, 1218-19 & n. 14 (1973); Easton Utilities Comm'n v. AEC, 137 U.S.App.D.C. 359, 424 F.2d 847, 851-53 (1970); Red River Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 69 App.D.C. 1, 98 F.2d 282, 287, cert. denied, 305 U.S. 625, 59 S.Ct. 86, 83 L.Ed. 400 (1938); 5 U.S.C. § 551(3); cf. Whitney Nat'l Bank v. New Orleans Bank, 379 U.S. 411, 419-22, 85 S.Ct. 551, 13 L.Ed.2d 386 (1965).

We see no reason to depart from the general rule here. The delay of which Blackstone now complains was motivated in part by the Board's solicitude for the applicant, FNBC, which was the only party before it; and there is evidence in the record that would suggest that FNBC acquiesced in the delay. On these facts the Board's extended deliberation seems understandable. Absent intervention by Blackstone, the Board had no reason to concern itself with Blackstone's interests as distinct from...