First Nationwide Bank v. Gelt Funding Corp.
| Citation | 27 F.3d 763 |
| Decision Date | 09 June 1994 |
| Docket Number | D,No. 457,457 |
| Parties | RICO Bus.Disp.Guide 8575 FIRST NATIONWIDE BANK, A Federal Savings Bank, A Federal Stock Association, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GELT FUNDING CORP., Allen I. Gross, Ralph Herzka, Shimon Eckstein, 505 Realty Associates, Prospect Realty Associates, Judah Wolf, Meir Unsdorfer, New Heights 765 Riverside Limited Partnership, New Heights (765 Riverside) Management Corp., 1691 Eastburn Realty Co., Sol Gross (a/k/a Eugene Gross), Joseph Friedman, 1261 Central Avenue Owners Corp., 65-11 Realty Co., Aviezier Cohen, Elaine Cohen, 730 Realty Associates, David Malek, Peter Rebenwurzel, 36 Plaza Street Owners Corp., Robert Wolf, 350 Sterling Associates, Edith Gross, Brookhaven Realty Associates, Crown Equities Limited Partnership, Adar Two Realty Co., 100 Realty Company, Esther Shur, E. Phillip Weingarten, New Heights (173-174) Limited Partnership, Temple Apartments Management Corporation, 740 Realty Associates, 2344 Davidson Associates, Jacob Rabinowitz, 1958 Realty Associates, Menachem Halberstam, Mordechai Halberstam, 273 Realty Associates, 2608 Realty Associates, Solomon Werdiger, Esther Werdiger, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 93-7422. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) |
James L. Stengel, New York City (Andrew M. Calamari, Jodi E. Freid, Deanna R. Waldron, Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, New York City, Roger B. Mead, Folger & Levin, San Francisco, CA, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellant.
Lewis R. Clayton, New York City (Mark A. Silberman, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, of counsel), for defendants-appellees Gelt Funding Corp., Allen I. Gross, Sol Gross a/k/a Eugene Gross, 350 Sterling Associates, Edith Gross, Brookhaven Realty Associates, 2608 Realty Associates, Solomon Werdiger, and Esther Werdiger.
Nathan Lewin, New York City (Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, Washington, D.C., Sara Moss, Howard, Darby & Levin, New York City, of counsel), for defendant-appellee Ralph Herzka.
Edward D. Fagan, New York City (Fagan & Associates, New York City, of counsel), for defendants-appellees Shimon Eckstein and 505 Realty Associates.
Rosenfeld & Maidenbaum, Cedarhurst, NY (Meir Rosenfeld, New York City, of counsel), for defendant-appellee Judah Wolf.
Robin Feingold Singer, New York City (Kramer, Levin, Naftalis, Nessen, Kamin & Frankel, of counsel), for defendants-appellees New Heights 765 Riverside Ltd. Partnership, New Heights 765 Riverside Management Corp., New Heights (173-174) Ltd. Partnership, Temple Apartments Management Corp. and Crown Equities Ltd. Partnership.
Irving P. Seidman, P.C., New York City (Irving P. Seidman, of counsel), for defendants-appellees 1261 Central Avenue Owners Corp., 36 Plaza Street Owners Corp., and Robert Wolf.
Sheldon Rudoff, New York City (Goodkind, Labaton Rudoff & Sucharow, Mark S. Arisohn, James W. Johnson, of counsel), for defendants-appellees 730 Realty Associates, David Malek, Peter Rebenwurzel, Adar Two Realty Co., 740 Realty Associates, and 2344 Davidson Associates.
Before: MAHONEY and WALKER, Circuit Judges, and METZNER, District Judge. *
This appeal raises issues surrounding the requirements for pleading a private civil cause of action under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(c) and (d). Principal among these is whether, where the predicate to the RICO claim is fraud by a borrower in misrepresenting the value of collateral, the fraud is complete before any actual loss is realized because the lender incurs additional concealed risk. Plaintiff-appellant First Nationwide Bank ("FNB" or the "Bank") appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Michael B. Mukasey, Judge ), dismissing its complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). In its amended complaint, FNB alleges that the defendants misrepresented the value of properties pledged as collateral to secure nonrecourse loans, and thereby fraudulently induced FNB to make loans it otherwise would not have made. FNB claims that it was damaged in an amount equal to the fraudulently induced portion of the loans. The amended complaint contains two counts under RICO, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(c) and (d), and seven pendent state law claims.
The district court concluded that FNB had not sufficiently alleged: (1) that it suffered an injury cognizable under RICO; (2) that the alleged fraud proximately caused FNB's loss; or (3) that the eighteen borrowers named as defendants were part of a RICO enterprise. The court thus dismissed the RICO counts of the amended complaint, and absent a substantial federal question, the pendent state law claims as well. Because we agree that FNB has not adequately plead injury and proximate cause, we affirm.
We review de novo the district court's dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6), taking as true the factual allegations in the complaint, and drawing all reasonable inferences therefrom in FNB's favor. Ferran v. Town of Nassau, 11 F.3d 21, 22 (2d Cir.1993).
FNB is a federal stock association based in San Francisco, California with offices in New York City. Prior to 1985, FNB's business consisted primarily of making purchase money mortgage loans to individuals. In 1985, FNB's parent corporation, First Nationwide Financial Corp., was purchased by Ford Motor Company. In May of that year, FNB began a significant expansion of its lending activities in New York by offering nonrecourse mortgage loans to owners and purchasers of commercial properties, principally multi-unit apartment buildings. Over the next five years FNB made over 1,000 nonrecourse loans to commercial property investors in the New York Metropolitan area in an aggregate amount of approximately $1.3 billion. In November 1990, in the midst of a severe downturn in the New York real estate market, FNB phased out its commercial lending business and stopped making commercial loans through its New York office.
Defendant Gelt Funding Corp. ("Gelt Funding") is a commercial mortgage broker that represents owners and potential buyers of commercial property, and helps them obtain financing for their transactions. Defendants Allen I. Gross and Ralph Herzka are Gelt Funding's principals: Gross its president and principal or sole shareholder, Herzka FNB made all the loans in question on a nonrecourse basis. In a nonrecourse loan transaction, the lender gives up its right to sue the borrower personally upon default, and is confined to recourse against the collateral property. Because the lender's remedy upon default is limited to the value of the property, that value is critical to the lender's decision whether to make the loan. Accordingly, before making a loan, FNB required borrowers to supply information about the property's operating income; the price for which the property was to be purchased; sale prices for the property in the previous three years; and whether the borrower intended to encumber the property with additional debt. FNB ordinarily would not make a nonrecourse loan unless the collateral property's net operating income was at least 1.05 times greater than the combination of principal and interest due on the loan, and the property value exceeded the loan amount by at least twenty-five percent.
an officer and employee. Between 1985 and 1990, Gross and Herzka cultivated a lucrative relationship with FNB on Gelt Funding's behalf in which Gelt Funding served as mortgage broker for borrowers of about $900 million in loans comprising roughly seventy percent of FNB's commercial mortgage portfolio. Eighteen of those borrowers are alleged to have supplied fraudulent information in their loan applications and are named as defendants in this action. The remaining individual defendants are alleged to be partners in, or otherwise affiliated with, one or more of the defendant borrowers.
During an audit of its commercial loan portfolio in 1991, FNB determined that a higher proportion of loans brokered by Gelt Funding had defaulted compared to other loans. In January 1992, FNB filed its original complaint in nine counts consisting of two RICO counts and seven state common-law claims. The first RICO count was brought against Gross, Herzka, and Gelt Funding (collectively, the "Gelt Defendants"). The second RICO count named, in addition to the Gelt Defendants, all the borrower entities and affiliated individuals (the "Borrower Defendants") who allegedly operated as a single organization, the so-called "Borrower Enterprise." The remaining seven state law counts alleged fraud, conspiracy to defraud, negligent misrepresentation, conversion, conspiracy to convert, unjust enrichment, and breach of fiduciary duty.
In its complaint, FNB alleged that Gross and Herzka used Gelt Funding to obtain nonrecourse loans by misrepresenting information pertinent to FNB's lending decision. Specifically, FNB claimed that Gross and Herzka intentionally misstated the operating income of the properties and concealed both the borrowers' intention to use the property to secure additional debt and the fact that artificial sales transactions were used to overstate property values. The complaint also alleged that FNB was led to believe that the borrowers and Gelt Funding were independent entities, when in fact Gross, Herzka, and a small group of undisclosed principals controlled most of the borrower entities.
Judge Mukasey dismissed FNB's original complaint without prejudice primarily on the ground that FNB had not adequately alleged two essential elements of a RICO claim--injury and proximate causation--because there were no specific allegations concerning the magnitude of the alleged misrepresentations or whether there was a causal connection between those misrepresentations and FNB's loss. First Nationwide Bank v. Gelt Funding, Inc., No. 92 Civ. 0790 (MBM), 1992 WL 358759 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 30, 1992). FNB then...
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