Court Opinion

ID: 9687154
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:17:21.535347+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:24.530114
License: Public Domain

WAHL, Justice,
concurring in part, dissenting in part.
Though I concur, for the most part, with the majority opinion, I must respectfully dissent from that portion which holds that state banks, having most favored lender status, may charge up to 21.75 percent a year on their agricultural loans made between 1983 and 1985. The legislature made manifest its intent, in Minn.Stat. § 334.011, subd. 1, that the maximum interest rate to be established for an agricultural loan was not more than 4½ percent in excess of the federal discount rate, “[notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary.” “Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary” —these are strong words, words that were unrepealed and unmodified when the legislature extended to industrial loan and thrift companies the right “to collect and receive charges [for the credit extended or money loaned therefor] as provided by chapter *813334, or in lieu thereof to charge, collect and receive interest at the rate of 21.75 percent per annum.” Minn.Stat. § 53.04, subd. 3a(a).
The foremost rule of construction given us by the legislature regarding the resolution of apparently conflicting provisions in the Minnesota Statutes is that “[w]hen a general provision in a law is in conflict with a special provision in the same or another law, the two shall be construed, if possible, so that effect may be given to both.” Minn.Stat. § 645.26, subd. 1 (1986). We must first attempt to reconcile the two statutes, giving effect to both, before proceeding to determine which provision prevails. Reconciliation can be effected in this case by construing the provision of § 53.04, subd. 3a(a) that industrial loan and thrift companies may make loans with interest up to certain rates ceilings “as provided by chapter 334, or in lieu thereof * * * at the rate of 21.75 percent” to mean that industrial loan and thrift companies may generally charge up to 21.75 percent interest, unless chapter 334 specifies a different rate on particular types of loans being made.
This construction would avoid conflict because only one provision would apply to a particular loan being made. The bank’s proposed construction of section 53.04, on the other hand, would greatly circumscribe the ambit of section 334.011 because no federal bank or federally insured state bank would be governed by the interest rate ceiling specified in either chapter 334 or in chapter 48. Since virtually every bank and savings and loan organization in Minnesota is federally insured, only a handful of private lenders would be governed by the interest rate in section 334.011. It is unlikely the legislature intended section 53.04 to so circumscribe the reach of section 334.011’s prescription of an interest rate ceiling of agricultural and business loans. It is more reasonable to construe section 53.04 to require compliance with the rate ceiling in section 334.011 on agricultural loans and to set a 21.75 percent rate ceiling for other loans. The highest rate state banks, having most favored lender status, could charge on their agricultural loans would be that prescribed by section 334.011, not more than 4½ percent in excess of the federal discount rate. I would so hold.