Meliezer v. Resolution Trust Co., No. 91-3248

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: Before POLITZ, Chief Judge, KING, and EMILIO M. GARZA; POLITZ
• Citation: 952 F.2d 879
• Parties: Barbara Ronda MELIEZER, wife of/and Karl A. Loetzerich, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. RESOLUTION TRUST COMPANY, as Receiver for Home Savings and Loan Association, Defendants-Appellees.
• Decision Date: 05 February 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-3248

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952 F.2d 879 Barbara Ronda MELIEZER, wife of/and Karl A. Loetzerich,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
RESOLUTION TRUST COMPANY, as Receiver for Home Savings and
Loan Association, Defendants-Appellees. No. 91-3248 Summary Calendar.
United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit. Feb. 5, 1992.

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Kevin Kennedy Gipson, Donovan & Lawler, Metairie, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Robert A. Mathis, Newman, Drolla, Mathis, Brady & Wakefield, Metairie, La., for defendants-appellees.

Christopher J. Bellotto, FDIC, Washington, D.C., for FDIC.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Before POLITZ, Chief Judge, KING, and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.

POLITZ, Chief Judge:

Barbara Ronda Meliezer and her husband Karl A. Loetzerich appeal the district court's dismissal without prejudice of their claim against Home Savings and Loan Association F.A. and the Resolution Trust Corporation. The district court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. For the reasons assigned we affirm.

Background

In September of 1987 the Loetzerichs purchased property in New Orleans, assuming a Home Savings mortgage. The property was destroyed by fire on December 1, 1989; Home Savings then held the mortgage. After filing a fire damage claim the Loetzerichs learned that the property was underinsured.

In June 1990 Home Savings was declared insolvent and Resolution Trust Company (RTC) was appointed Receiver. Implementing the administrative claims process, RTC published the notice required by 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(3)(B), and established September 25, 1990 as the deadline for the filing of claims.

On November 30, 1990 the Loetzerichs filed a suit against Home Savings and the RTC alleging that Home Savings was negligent for allowing them to assume the loan and hazard insurance when it knew or should have known that there was insufficient insurance to cover a fire loss to the property. The RTC moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the Loetzerichs had failed to exhaust administrative remedies, 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d). The district court granted the motion and the Loetzerichs timely appealed.

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Analysis

A motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction may be decided by the district court considering only the complaint, the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts reflected in the record, or the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts plus the court's resolution of disputed facts. Ynclan v. Department of Air Force, 943 F.2d 1388 (5th Cir.1991) (citing Williamson v. Tucker, 645 F.2d 404 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 897, 102 S.Ct. 396, 70 L.Ed.2d 212 (1981)). In the present case the district court relied on the complaint and undisputed facts.

The Loetzerichs contend that the district court erred in dismissing their claim for failure to exhaust administrative remedies because the RTC waived the administrative claims process when it failed to provide the notice as required by 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(3)(C). They contend that this "waiver" vests the district court with jurisdiction. We are not persuaded.

We begin our review with the administrative claims process in the Financial Institutions Reform and Recovery Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA"), Pub.L. No. 101-73, 83 Stat. 183 (1989). Congress enacted FIRREA to remedy the problems it perceived in the existing regulatory scheme in the savings and loan industry. See H.Rep. No. 101-54(I), 101st Cong., 1st Sess. 291-312, reprinted in 1989 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 86, 87-108 (detailing the history and purpose behind FIRREA). Among its numerous provisions FIRREA established the RTC ¹ in an effort "to contain, manage, and resolve failed savings associations." Pub.L. 101-73, 103 Stat. 183, 187, published at 12 U.S.C.A. § 1811 Note. To assure that the RTC or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ² could deal expeditiously with failed depository institutions, Congress created a new claims determination procedure by which the creditors of a failed institution may be required to first present their claims to the Receiver for administrative consideration before pursuing a judicial remedy. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(3).

This claims procedure was in part informed by the Supreme Court's decision in Coit Independence Joint Venture v. Federal Sav. & Loan Ins. Corp., 489 U.S. 561, 109 S.Ct. 1361, 103 L.Ed.2d 602 (1989). ³ In Coit the Court held that the previous statutes governing the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board did not grant exclusive adjudicatory power to the FSLIC over creditors' claims against insolvent savings and loans associations under FSLIC receivership and did not divest the courts of jurisdiction to consider those claims de novo. Id. 489 U.S. at 587, 109 S.Ct. at 1375-76, 103 L.Ed.2d at 624. The Court also held that because there was no reasonable time limit on FSLIC's consideration of creditor claims, the FSLIC did not have the power as receiver to require parties to adjudicate their claims first through the FSLIC claim procedure before pursuing judicial remedies. ⁴

The new claims procedure gives the Receiver of a failed financial institution the authority to review claims. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(3). The RTC has 180 days to determine whether to allow or disallow a claim and must timely notify the claimant. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(5). If the claim is disallowed, or the 180-day determination period has expired, the claimant may request further

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administrative consideration or seek judicial review. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(6)(A).

Typically, exhaustion of administrative remedies is required where Congress imposes such a requirement. Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 95 S.Ct. 2457, 45 L.Ed.2d 522 (1975). If the statutory language is not explicit, courts are guided by congressional intent in determining whether exhaustion is...