JAMES R. BUNN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION, as receiver for Valley Bank Illinois, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 18-1907
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
ARGUED OCTOBER 31, 2018 — DECIDED NOVEMBER 8, 2018
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. No. 4:15-cv-04053 — Sara Darrow, Judge.
FLAUM, Circuit Judge. After its appointment as receiver for Valley Bank Illinois (“Valley Bank“), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC“) disaffirmed a benefits agreement between Valley Bank and James Bunn, a bank executive. Bunn sued the FDIC to recover a “change of control termination benefit” he claims he is entitled to receive pursuant to this agreement. The district court granted summary judgment to
I. Background
A. Factual Background
James Bunn worked for Valley Bank as Executive Vice President from 2001 until the bank‘s failure on June 20, 2014. He also served as the bank‘s Director beginning in 2008 or 2009. During Bunn‘s employment, Valley Bank was an FDIC-insured, state-chartered nonmember bank regulated by both the FDIC in its corporate capacity (“FDIC-C“) and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (“IDFPR“).
1. The Salary Continuation Agreement
In 2003, Valley Bank entered into a Salary Continuation Agreement (the “Agreement“) with Bunn “to provide salary continuation benefits to [Bunn] that are payable from [Valley Bank‘s] general assets for the purpose of encouraging [Bunn] to remain an employee of [Valley Bank].” After amending and restating the document in 2005 and 2008, the parties signed the operative version of the Agreement on July 22, 2008.
In this Agreement, Valley Bank agreed to provide Bunn with certain termination benefits in the event Bunn “ceases to be employed by [Valley Bank] for any reason, voluntary or involuntary.” The Agreement provides for benefits to Bunn in various scenarios, including the event of his death, normal retirement, early termination before retirement, disability, and termination after a “change of control” in Valley Bank‘s ownership.
The Agreement provides that a “change of control” triggering Bunn‘s entitlement to this benefit would occur upon “either a change in the ownership of [Valley Bank]‘s capital stock ... or the sale or other disposition of substantially all of [Valley Bank]‘s assets.” Bunn would be entitled to payment of this benefit within sixty days following his termination under such circumstances.
Valley Bank purchased two life insurance policies, one from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and one from New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation, for which Bunn was the named insured. Valley Bank retained ownership of these policies but, according to Bunn, Valley Bank purchased these policies for the express purpose of
[Bunn] and beneficiary are general unsecured creditors of [Valley Bank] for the payment of benefits under this Agreement. The benefits represent the mere promise by [Valley Bank] to pay such benefits. The rights to benefits are not subject in any manner to anticipation, alienation, sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, encumbrance, attachment, or garnishment by creditors. Any insurance on [Bunn]‘s life is a general asset of [Valley Bank] to which [Bunn] and beneficiary have no preferred or secured claim.
The Agreement further provides that Bunn‘s “rights and the benefits provided under this Agreement are subject to and conditioned upon compliance with all applicable federal and state laws, regulations, rules and regulatory orders relating to the safety and soundness of banking institutions and the compensation of bank officers and employees.”
2. Valley Bank Suffers Financial Trouble and Ultimately Fails
Valley Bank began to experience financial trouble in 2009. Specifically, in February 2009, the FDIC-C and IDFPR downgraded Valley Bank‘s rating after an examination to a composite “4” under the Uniform Financial Institutions Rating System (the “CAMELS” rating system).2 The bank maintained its
On June 20, 2014, the IDFPR took possession and control of Valley Bank, closed it after determining the bank was “conducting its business in an unsafe and unsound manner,” and requested the FDIC immediately accept appointment as Valley Bank‘s receiver. The FDIC accepted this appointment in its “FDIC-R” receiver capacity. See Veluchamy v. FDIC, 706 F.3d 810, 812 (7th Cir. 2013) (the FDIC can act both in its corporate capacity as insurer of a bank‘s depositors and in its receiver capacity as receiver of a failed bank). By accepting this appointment, the FDIC succeeded “by operation of law” to Valley Bank‘s “rights, titles, powers, and privileges.”
Upon its appointment as receiver, the FDIC entered into a Purchase and Assumption Agreement with Great Southern Bank. Pursuant to this agreement, the FDIC transferred a portion of Valley Bank‘s assets to Great Southern Bank on June 20, 2014. The FDIC did not employ Bunn after these events;
3. The FDIC Disaffirms the Agreement
As receiver for a failed institution, the FDIC has the authority to “disaffirm or repudiate any contract or lease” to which the institution is a party, the performance of which it “determines to be burdensome,” and “the disaffirmance or repudiation of which [it] determines, in [its] discretion, will promote the orderly administration of the institution‘s affairs.”
On September 16, 2014, the FDIC advised Bunn in a letter that pursuant to these statutory provisions, it would disaffirm the Agreement. The FDIC further notified Bunn that if he intended to pursue a claim for the Agreement‘s benefits against the receivership estate, he was required to file a proof of claim with the FDIC within ninety days. Bunn submitted his proof of claim on September 28, 2014, seeking $230,000 to $240,000 for his “accrued and vested” change of control benefits under the Agreement. However, the FDIC disallowed Bunn‘s claim.
B. Procedural Background
After the FDIC disallowed his claim, Bunn filed the instant lawsuit in federal court. In his operative amended complaint, Bunn sought either $240,000 as the sum of the benefits he claimed to have accrued under the Agreement or, in the alternative, the $443,944 accrued cash value of the two bank-owned life insurance policies Valley Bank had purchased, as
On May 1, 2017, the FDIC moved for summary judgment, arguing in part that the change of control termination benefit was a “golden parachute payment” prohibited by
The district court granted the FDIC‘s motion for summary judgment. It held the change of control termination benefit met the definition of a golden parachute payment and did not qualify for the definition‘s bona fide deferred compensation plan exception. Therefore, Bunn could not recover any damages based on the FDIC‘s disaffirmation of the Agreement. The court further held that, even if the benefit was not a golden parachute payment, Bunn still could not prevail because he had not presented evidence of any damages incurred by virtue of the FDIC‘s disaffirmation. The district court entered judgment in the FDIC‘s favor, and Bunn appeals.
II. Discussion
We review a district court‘s summary judgment ruling de novo. See C.G. Schmidt, Inc. v. Permasteelisa N. Am., 825 F.3d 801, 805 (7th Cir. 2016). “Summary judgment is proper if the moving party ‘shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.‘” Spurling v. C & M Fine Pack, Inc., 739 F.3d 1055, 1060 (7th Cir. 2014) (quoting
The party moving for summary judgment has the initial burden of demonstrating there is no genuine dispute of material fact: “it may discharge this responsibility by showing ‘that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party‘s case.‘” Chelios v. Heavener, 520 F.3d 678, 685 (7th Cir. 2008) (quoting Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986)). “To overcome a motion for summary judgment, the nonmoving party must come forward with specific facts demonstrating that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Id. (quoting Matushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 (1986)). We may affirm a grant of summary judgment on any ground supported by the record. Goodman v. Nat‘l Sec. Agency, Inc., 621 F.3d 651, 656 (7th Cir. 2010).
Bunn argues the district court erred by holding the change of control termination benefit in the Agreement is a golden parachute payment. We agree with the district court that the benefit meets this definition, and Bunn has presented no evidence sufficient to establish the benefit qualifies for the bona fide deferred compensation plan exception to such a payment.
A. The Benefit is a Golden Parachute Payment.
Federal law authorizes the FDIC in its corporate capacity to “prohibit or limit, by regulation or order, any golden parachute payment or indemnification payment.”
A golden parachute payment is:
[A]ny payment (or any agreement to make any payment) in the nature of compensation by any insured depository institution or covered company for the benefit of any institution-affiliated party pursuant to an obligation of such institution or covered company that—
(i) is contingent on the termination of such party‘s affiliation with the institution or covered company; and—
(ii) is received on or after the date on which—
(I) the insured depository institution or covered company, or any insured depository institution subsidiary of such covered company is insolvent;
(II) any conservator or receiver is appointed for such institution;
(III) the institution‘s appropriate Federal banking agency determines that the insured depository institution is in a troubled condition ...
(IV) the insured depository institution has been assigned a composite rating by the appropriate Federal banking agency or the Corporation of 4 or 5 under the [CAMELS] System; or
(V) the insured depository institution is subject to a proceeding initiated by the Corporation to terminate or suspend deposit insurance for such institution.
The change of control termination benefit meets this definition. It is an agreement to make a “payment,” that is in the “nature of compensation,” by Valley Bank to Bunn. Bunn
The FDIC has met its burden and demonstrated the change of control payment falls within the ambit of prohibited golden parachute payments. Bunn does not contest this. Instead, he argues the benefit he seeks qualifies as a bona fide deferred compensation plan exception to such payments.
B. The Benefit is Not a Bona Fide Deferred Compensation Plan.
Section
Implementing regulations promulgated under
Although Bunn argues his change of control termination benefit fits this exception to golden parachute payments, his argument runs into two problems that independently prevent his recovery. First, Bunn has not come forward with any specific facts demonstrating the benefit could satisfy the threshold requirements in
Bunn does state that the Agreement meets the statutory requirements for a “non-qualified deferred compensation plan” under
Second, even assuming Bunn had come forward with evidence that the change of control termination benefit meets the threshold requirements of
The district court focused its analysis on
Section
The insured depository institution ... has previously recognized compensation expense and accrued a liability for the benefit payments according to GAAP8 or segregated or otherwise set aside assets in a trust which may only be used to pay plan benefits, except that the assets of such trust may be available to satisfy claims of the institution‘s or holding company‘s creditors in the case of insolvency.
Bunn argues the two bank-owned life insurance policies in his name satisfy this first pathway: Valley Bank purchased them for the express purpose of satisfying its obligations under the Agreement, they were approved in 2008 for use in this manner, and Valley Bank acknowledged it would follow GAAP applicable to these life insurance policies. Bunn also points to his testimony at his deposition that Valley Bank had listed on its general ledger an accrued liability of $4,300,000 for all of its executive employees under all of the Salary Continuation Agreements it had in place. According to Bunn, the combination of these two facts raises a credible dispute as to whether Valley Bank “recognized compensation expense” and “accrued a liability” for the purpose of paying his change of control termination benefit.
In the district court, Bunn did not argue the life insurance policies represented the kind of asset segregation sufficient to meet this requirement: his only mention of the policies in opposing summary judgment was to “concede[] that he does not have entitlement to the cash value of the bank owned life insurance based on ... the [Agreement].” Bunn has waived this point by not arguing below that the life insurance policies themselves represented the necessary segregation of assets for this requirement. See Walker v. Groot, 867 F.3d 799, 802 (7th Cir. 2017) (“A ‘party may not raise an issue for the first time on appeal.‘“) (quoting Williams v. Dieball, 724 F.3d 957, 961 (7th Cir. 2013)).
In any event, the combination of the bank-owned life insurance policies and the $4,300,000 liability on Valley Bank‘s
Additionally, Bunn did not present any evidence sufficient to satisfy
In sum, Bunn has not provided evidence that the benefit he seeks is anything other than a prohibited golden parachute payment. The payment is therefore prohibited under federal law, and Bunn cannot demonstrate he suffered any damages from the FDIC‘s disaffirmation of the Agreement.10
III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
