Dannhausen v. First Nat. Bank of Sturgeon Bay
| Decision Date | 18 March 1982 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 79-C-1070. |
| Parties | Myles R. DANNHAUSEN, as an individual natural person and a citizen of the United States, Mary K. Dannhausen, as an individual natural person and a citizen of the United States, Myles R. and Mary K. Dannhausen d/b/a Stagecoach Marine and Sporting Goods, a general partnership, Plaintiffs, v. The FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF STURGEON BAY, a federally chartered banking corporation, Mr. Calvin Falk, individually and as President and Director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Robert Tilden, individually and as a director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Fred Peterson, individually and as a Director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Anthony L. Schlise, individually and as a Director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mrs. Marion A. Staats, individually and as a Director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Robert L. Wolter, individually and as a Director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Lawrence E. Wulf, individually and as a Director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Gregory Stephan, individually and as Assistant Cashier and as Cashier of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Kenneth W. Leaf, Regional Administrator of National Banks, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and as an individual, Mr. Harold J. Hansen, as the Legal Counsel to the Regional Administrator of National Banks, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and individually, Edwin C. Stephan, individually and as presiding judge of the County Court, Door County, Wisconsin, Mr. Chester Stauffacher, Attorney, individually and as an officer of the Court, J. W. Byers, Judge, individually and as Judge of the Brown County Court, Robert Bloom, individually and as Comptroller of the Currency, and Dr. H. D. Grota, individually and as a Director of The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Bronson C. La Follette, Atty. Gen. by Theodore L. Priebe, Asst. Atty. Gen., Madison, Wis., for defendant Edwin C. Stephan.
Myles R. & Mary K. Dannhausen, plaintiffs pro se.
Chester C. Stauffacher, Sturgeon Bay, Wis., for defendants First Nat. Bank of Sturgeon Bay, Calvin Falk, Robert Tilden, Fred Peterson, Anthony L. Schlise, Marion A. Staats, Robert L. Wolter, Lawrence E. Wulf, Gregory Stephan, Chester Stauffacher, and H. D. Grota.
Joseph P. Stadtmueller, U. S. Atty. by Elizabeth Adelman, Asst. U. S. Atty., Milwaukee, Wis., and James P. Klapps, Asst. Director, Torts Branch, Civil Division, U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Lester N. Scall, Office of Comptroller, Washington, D. C., and Ronald R. Glancz, Washington, D. C., for defendants Kenneth W. Leaf, Robert Bloom and Harold J. Hansen.
DECISION AND ORDER
The pro se plaintiffs in this action, Myles R. Dannhausen, Mary K. Dannhausen, and Myles R. Dannhausen and Mary K. Dannhausen d/b/a Stagecoach Marine and Sporting Goods ("plaintiffs"), have filed a lengthy, rambling, and confusing complaint containing a large number of claims against a large number of defendants. Based on a reading of plaintiff's complaint, it appears to the Court as though plaintiffs have brought suit against nearly every person, corporation, judge, and agency in any way related with the financing or collapse of Stagecoach Marine and Sporting Goods.
With the aid of all the briefs filed in this action, it appears to the Court as though this action for damages is primarily a suit against The First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay ("Bank") and numerous of its directors and employees1 ("Bank Directors and Employees"), brought under 12 U.S.C. § 1975, a provision of the Bank Holding Company Act which permits persons injured by a violation of 12 U.S.C. § 1972 to bring a treble damage action. In addition, as best as the Court can determine from a reading of the complaint, plaintiffs have alleged the following claims:
1. That the Bank and Bank Directors and Employees deprived the plaintiffs of their property and rights to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment under color of state law through a setoff of the plaintiffs' bank accounts against their obligations, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Complaint, ¶¶ 33, 40.)
2. That the Bank and Bank Directors and Employees deprived the plaintiffs of their property and rights to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment under color of state law by obtaining an ex parte temporary restraining order which prohibited the plaintiffs from disposing of their marine business inventory, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Complaint, ¶ 3 "Grounds for Federal Jurisdiction" and ¶ 45.)
3. That Judges J. W. Byers and Edwin C. Stephan conspired with the defendants' Bank, Bank Directors and Employees, and Chester Stauffacher to deprive the plaintiffs of their property and rights to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment under color of state law in connection with the Bank's obtainment of the ex parte restraining order which prohibited plaintiffs from disposing of their marine business inventory, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Complaint, ¶ 3 "Grounds for Federal Jurisdiction" and ¶¶ 45, 47, and 62.)
4. That Chester Stauffacher conspired with defendants Judges J. W. Byers and Edwin C. Stephan, the Bank, and Bank Directors and Employees to deprive the plaintiffs of their property and due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment under color of state law, in connection with the above-mentioned ex parte restraining order, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Complaint, ¶¶ 47, 57, and 61-63.)
5. That the Comptroller of the Currency ("Comptroller") and three officials of that office — Kenneth W. Leaf, Harold J. Hansen, and Robert Bloom ("Comptroller Officials") — deprived the plaintiffs of their rights to due process of law and to equal protection of the laws by failing to enforce the National Banking Acts against the Bank and deprived the plaintiffs of equal protection of the laws by assisting the Bank in a suit between the plaintiffs and the Bank in state court, in violation of 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a), 5 U.S.C. § 552, 42 U.S.C. § 1985, and the Fifth Amendment. (Complaint, ¶¶ 62, 68-87, and 91.)
6. That in addition to depriving the plaintiffs of their property rights and rights to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment under color of state law in connection with the setoff and the ex parte restraining order, the Bank, Bank Directors and Employees, and Chester Stauffacher deprived the plaintiffs of their property rights and rights to due process of law in connection with the setoff and the ex parte restraining order. (Complaint, ¶ 3 "Grounds for Federal Jurisdiction," ¶¶ 45, 47, 61, and 62.)
7. That the Bank and Bank Directors and Employees breached their contract, made misrepresentations, made a wrongful setoff, and abused legal process in connection with the ex parte restraining order, which wrongs may be redressed in this court under the principles of pendant jurisdiction. (Complaint, ¶¶ 25, 26, 33, 40, and 45.)
8. Finally, that Chester Stauffacher abused legal process in connection with the ex parte restraining order, which wrong may be redressed in this court under the principles of pendant jurisdiction. (Complaint, ¶ 61.)
This matter is presently before the court on the motions of the several defendants to dismiss each of the eight claims enumerated above.2 For the reasons that follow, those motions will be granted and this case will be dismissed.
With the help of counsels' briefs and Judge James A. Martineau's decision in First National Bank of Sturgeon Bay v. Stagecoach Junction, Inc., Case No. 3048 (Cir.Ct.Wis., Oct. 29, 1979), the Court determines that the following are the relevant facts.
Harold and Helen Dannhausen, the parents of the plaintiff Myles Dannhausen, were the proprietors of a small shopping center located in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. Several of the shops located in the shopping center were owned by a corporation, Stagecoach Junction, Inc. ("Stagecoach Junction"). Included among the shops owned by Stagecoach Junction was a marine business. Harold and Helen Dannhausen and their son H. Richard Dannhausen owned all the stock in Stagecoach Junction. The land on which the shopping center was located was owned by Harold and Helen Dannhausen in their individual capacities. Stagecoach Junction thus paid rent to Harold and Helen Dannhausen.
In or about July of 1974, the plaintiffs Myles and Mary Dannhausen moved to Egg Harbor because of the ill health of Harold Dannhausen. They took over the management and operation of the shops owned by Stagecoach Junction, including the marine business.
Stagecoach Junction entered into a floor plan arrangement with the Bank for the purchase of inventory. Promissory notes were given to the Bank as part of this floor plan arrangement for the purchase of marine business inventory, with the Bank taking a security interest in the inventory. Eventually Stagecoach Junction reached its maximum credit line of $30,000 under its floor plan arrangement with the Bank.
After Harold Dannhausen's death on September 23, 1975, it became apparent that Stagecoach Junction was in very bad financial health. The Bank, which had loaned Stagecoach Junction money in the past pursuant to the arrangement described above, refused to extend any further credit. The attorney for Stagecoach Junction, moreover, advised that the corporation be placed in bankruptcy.
The Dannhausens, however, did not wish to abandon Stagecoach Junction's marine business and find employment elsewhere. Instead, the Dannhausens approached Curt Schwantes, a loan officer for the Bank, to discuss the possibility of the Bank's financing the purchase of the marine business from Stagecoach Junction. They were informed that the Bank would not consider financing the purchase of the marine...
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