Plaintiff Golden Pacific Bancorp (“Ban-corp” or “plaintiff’) appeals from a judgment filed on June 16, 2000, by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Naomi Reice Buchwald, Judge),
Golden Pac. Bancorp ex rel. Golden Pac. Nat’l Bank v. FDIC,
No. 95 Civ. 9281,
I.
Bancorp owned more than 90% of the stock in Golden Pacific National Bank (“the Bank”), which was closed on June 21, 1985, by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“the OCC”) after the OCC had determined that the Bank was insolvent. The FDIC immediately placed the Bank into receivership and proceeded to pay the Bank’s depositors. The FDIC also charged its legal and office expenses to the estate of the receivership. After it completed payment to the Bank’s depositors, the FDIC paid itself post-insolvency interest to which it believed itself entitled, *513 with its first payment on March 15, 1991. The FDIC ended the receivership on November 1,1995.
Substantial litigation between the present parties followed in the wake of the OCC’s decision to close the bank. In September 1985, soon after the Bank was closed, the FDIC brought a civil action (“the September 1985 action”) against a number of the Bank’s officers seeking to recover $14 million in “assets from [those] who allegedly owe[d] funds to the Bank either as borrowers or guarantors.”
FDIC v. Chuang,
In addition, beginning in 1985, Bancorp twice tried unsuccessfully to sue the OCC, contending that the OCC had erroneously determined that the Bank was insolvent at the time of its closure. In these two related, successive actions, Bancorp’s claims were held meritless under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Federal Tort Claims Act,
Golden Pac. Bancorp v. Clarke,
Then, in May 1986, Bancorp’s former president and chief executive officer, Joseph Chuang, brought an action (“the May 1986 action”) against the FDIC, among others, claiming that it had appropriated his law offices in connection with the seizure of the bank. As part of the combined settlement of the May 1986 action and the September 1985 action, the parties agreed to exchange certain releases. 1 Bancorp— although not a party to either action— executed a release on June 6, 1988 (“the release”), stating in relevant part:
[Bancorp] ... hereby releases the [FDIC], 'in its corporate capacity and in its capacity as receiver of the [Bank] ... (c) from any and all claims which Ban-corp ... has or may have arising from or with respect to the decision of the [OCC] to close the Bank on June 21, 1985. 2
Bancorp commenced the instant action in the Southern District of New York on October 31,1995, one day before the FDIC terminated the receivership. It asserted four claims: (1) that the FDIC was liable for unjust enrichment for paying itself post-insolvency interest; (2) that the FDIC breached its fiduciary duty to Ban- *514 corp in its actions relating to the closure of the Bank, including its sale of certain Bank assets for an amount far below “true franchise value”; (3) that the FDIC wasted corporate assets of the Bank when it charged various legal and office expenses to the receivership estate for its own benefit; and (4) that the FDIC provided an inadequate accounting of the receivership estate. First Am. Compl., ¶¶ 72-99 (filed Mar. 4, 1996). In May 1996, the FDIC moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346, 2680(a), and the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). The District Court (Allen G. Schwartz, Judge) denied defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, but referred to a magistrate judge the question of whether plaintiffs claims were time-barred.
On December 15, 1999, after the parties completed discovery, the FDIC filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Bancorp’s action was barred by the release of June 6, 1988, and by the applicable statute of limitations. On June 16, 2000, the District Court (Naomi Reice Buchwald,
Judge)
concluded that plaintiffs claims were barred by the release or, in the alternative, by New York’s six-year statute of limitations.
Golden Pac.,
Bancorp filed a notice of appeal of the District Court’s judgment on June 29, 2000. On August 14, 2000, the Court granted Bancorp’s summary judgment motion on the FDIC’s previously unadjudicat-ed counterclaim for attorney’s fees to the FDIC. Then on September 1, 2000, Ban-corp filed a second notice of its appeal from the June 16, 2000 judgment of the District Court. 3 On October 13, 2000, the FDIC filed its notice of cross-appeal from the August 14, 2000 order denying it attorney’s fees. In an order filed December 19, 2000, we consolidated the appeals. On August 2, 2001, we granted the FDIC’s motion to withdraw its cross-appeal for attorney’s fees. Both parties’ briefs assume that New York law controls. 4
II.
A. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review
de novo
a grant of summary judgment.
Catlin v. Sobol,
A release is a species of contract and “is governed by principles of contract law.”
Bank of Am. Nat’l Trust and Sav. Ass’n v. Gillaizeau,
The application of the statute of limitations is an issue of law and is reviewed
de novo. See Kidder, Peabody & Co. v. Henehan,
B. The Release
Under New York law, a release — -like any contract — must be construed in accordance with the intent of the parties who executed it.
Stone v. Nat’l Bank & Trust Co.,
Recall that the May 1988 release stated in relevant part:
[Bancorp] ... hereby releases the [FDIC], in its corporate capacity and in its capacity as receiver of the [Bank] ... (c) from any and all claims which Ban-corp ... has or may have arising from or with respect to the decision of the [OCC] to close the Bank on June 21, 1985.
The District Court found that the release was unambiguous and covered all of plaintiffs claims:
We find the language of the June 1988 release to be unambiguous, and to encompass plaintiffs claims that the FDIC improperly managed the Bank’s receivership. The text’s specific reference to “the [FDIC] ... in its capacity as receiver of the [Bank]” clearly demonstrates the parties’ intent to include the FDIC’s handling of the receivership within the scope of the release. The claims at issue here, ie., the HKSB asset transfer, payment of FDIC office expenses and legal fees from the receivership estate, and payment of post-insolvency interest to creditors, are unambiguously claims that Bancorp “ha[d] or may have [had]” against FDIC-R as of June 1988 when the former released the lat[t]er. Bancorp’s present attempt to argue that it had not intended to release defendant from the claims it now asserts simply cannot be reconciled with the unambiguous text of the release.
Golden Pac.,
*516
We do not find the contractual language to be as clear as the District Court did. We recently recalled that “[t]he language of a contract is ambiguous if it is capable of more than one meaning when viewed objectively by a reasonably intelligent person who has examined the context of the entire integrated agreement.”
Krumme v. WestPoint Stevens Inc.,
To be sure, the District Court held that because the receivership “was the direct result of the OCC’s decision, [and] can be said to have arisen therefrom,” the release includes claims based on the FDIC’s mismanagement of the receivership.
Golden Pac.,
We are not persuaded by the District Court’s position that “[t]he text’s specific reference to the [FDIC] ... in its capacity as receiver of the [Bank] clearly demonstrates the parties’ intent to include the FDIC’s handling of the receivership within the scope of the release.”
Golden Pac.,
*517
Where an agreement is ambiguous, a court may resort to extrinsic evidence to determine the parties’ intent.
Stage Club Corp. v. W. Realty Co.,
[Bancorp] hereby releases the [FDIC] ... from any and all disputes and claims with and against the FDIC and/or the Bank which Bancorp and/or any of Ban-corp’s successors or assigns now has, ever had, or which may hereafter accrue, based on acts, omissions or transactions occurring prior to ... 1988. Without limiting the foregoing ... Ban-corp releases the FDIC and the Bank from any dispute or claim arising from or in respect of the closing of the Bank or any act taken by, or omission of, the FDIC as receiver of the Bank.
(emphasis supplied). That language — expressly rejected by Bancorp — would have barred Bancorp’s claims here, which indeed arise from “act[s] taken by ... the FDIC as receiver of the Bank.” That Ban-corp rejected draft contract language which explicitly released the FDIC from any act taken or omitted as receiver of the Bank strongly suggests that Bancorp did not intend to relinquish such claims in the final release.
The District Court, in an alternative holding, concluded that, even if the release were to be considered ambiguous, necessitating an examination of extrinsic evidence, Bancorp’s proffered parol evidence would not have altered its decision that the release barred Bancorp’s claims.
Golden Pac.,
We disagree with the District Court’s conclusions. To be sure, Brooks’ statement that he had advised Bancorp not to execute
any
release does not help one interpret the scope of the release actually executed. Still, the District Court did not give due weight to the Chuang Affidavit, which bears directly on Bancorp’s intention in signing the release. Nor did it give adequate consideration to Brooks’ statement describing rejection of the first draft release. Moreover, the Court failed to
*518
give sufficient weight to the presence in the first draft release of a provision expressly releasing the FDIC from any act or omission taken as receiver and the absence of any'such clause in the final,-executed release. Taken together, the evidence from Chuang’s Affidavit, Brooks’ statement describing the rejection of the first draft release, and the first draft release itself, raises a genuine issue of material fact as to the parties’ intentions in executing the final release. Accordingly, the release should not have been the basis for summary judgment in favor of the FDIC.
See Mangini v. McClurg,
C. The Statute of Limitations
The statute of limitations in New York for claims of unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste, and for an accounting is generally six years.
See
N.Y. C.P.L.R. §§ 213(1), (7) (McKinney 1990)
5
;
see also Loengard v. Santa Fe Indus., Inc.,
The FDIC argues that the statute of limitations runs upon the occurrence of the events underlying the plaintiffs cause of action. In the instant case, the FDIC maintains that the events underlying the plaintiffs claims arose in June 1985, when the FDIC began to liquidate the Bank. Accordingly, the FDIC concludes that the plaintiffs claims should be time-barred because it filed its lawsuit more than six years after June 1985.
Under New York law, the limitations period for claims arising out of a fiduciary relationship does not commence “until the fiduciary has openly repudiated his or her obligation or the relationship has been otherwise terminated.”
Westchester Religious Inst. v. Kamerman,
The reason for such a tolling rule is that the beneficiary should be entitled to rely upon a fiduciary’s skill without the necessity of interrupting a continuous relationship of trust and confidence by instituting suit.
See Greene v. Greene,
In this case, it is undisputed that Ban-corp and the FDIC had a fiduciary relationship,
6
and that the FDIC did not terminate its fiduciary relationship with Bancorp — that is, its receivership of the Bank — until November 1, 1995. Accordingly, the statute of limitations on Ban-corp’s claims did not begin to run until that date.
See Kamerman,
Bancorp’s unjust enrichment claim is timely for an additional reason. Under New York law, for a plaintiff to prevail on a claim of unjust enrichment, he must establish (1) that the defendant was enriched; (2) that the enrichment was at the plaintiffs expense; and (3) that the circumstances are such that in equity and good conscience the defendant should return the money or property to the plaintiff.
Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co.,
The District Court improperly conflated the accrual of the cause of action with the accrual of post-insolvency interest. The statute of limitations for a claim of unjust enrichment begins to run “upon the occurrence of the wrongful act giving rise to a duty of restitution.”
Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar, Inc. v. 26 Adar N.B. Corp.,
III.
To summarize:
1. It is unclear whether the release covers plaintiffs claims against the FDIC for unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, waste of corporate assets, and an accounting in the management of the receivership. The extrinsic evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, is ambiguous and creates a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Bancorp intended to release the FDIC.
2. The statute of limitations does not bar Baneorp’s claims as a matter of law because the limitation period did not begin to run until the receivership terminated.
For the reasons stated above, we vacate the June 16, 2000 judgment of the District Court and remand the cause to the Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. In addition to the parties' exchange of releases, Bancorp agreed, inter alia, to pay the FDIC $14.6 million, while the FDIC agreed, inter alia, to transfer to Bancorp certain of the Bank's receivership assets.
. The full text of the release is as follows:
[Bancorp] hereby releases the [FDIC], in its corporate capacity and in its capacity as receiver of the [Bank], and the [Bank]: (a) from any and all claims which Bancorp (and/or any of its successors or assigns) has or may have relating to the assets and transactions which are the subject of the FDIC's claims set forth in its July 22, 1987 Amended Complaint in case no. 85 Civ. 7468 (S.D.N.Y.) (SWK); (b) from any and all claims which Bancorp (and/or any of its successors or assigns) has or may have arising from the transactions which are the subject of any counterclaims which any defendant has asserted against the FDIC or the Bank in case no. 85 Civ. 7468 (S.D.N.Y.) (SWK); and (c) from any and all claims which Bancorp (and/or any of its successors or assigns) has or may have arising from or with respect to the decision of the Comptroller of the Currency to close the Bank on June 21, 1985.
. Because the FDIC had contended that Ban-corp’s June 29, 2000 notice of appeal from the June 16, 2000 judgment was premature, Bancorp, "as a precautionary measure,” filed a notice of appeal from the District Court's August 14, 2000 order on September 1, 2000.
. The parties' briefs assume that New York substantive law governs the issues of contract interpretation and statute of limitations presented here, and such implied consent is, of course, sufficient to establish the applicable choice of law.
Krumme v. WestPoint Stevens Inc.,
. N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213 (McKinney 1990) provides in relevant part:
The following actions must be commenced within six years:
1. an action for which no limitation is specifically prescribed by law;
7. an action by or on behalf of a corporation against a present or former director, officer or stockholder for an accounting, or to procure a judgment on the ground of fraud, or to enforce a liability, penalty or forfeiture, or to recover damages for waste or for an injury to property or for an accounting in conjunction therewith.
(emphases supplied).
. Bancorp argues that they had a fiduciary relationship, and the FDIC does not deny that assertion.
