Court Opinion

ID: 9487931
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:30:31.005094+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:34.269110
License: Public Domain

T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
In 1989, Congress added subsection (b) to 12 U.S.C. § 1819. The first sub-part of the new subsection provided: “The Corporation, in any capacity, shall be an agency of the United States, for purposes of section 1345 of title 28.... ” (Section 1345 gives the district courts original jurisdiction of suits by the United States and its officers and agencies.)
Congress went on to provide, in sub-part (2)(B) of the same new subsection (b), that the “Corporation may, without bond or security, remove any action, suit or proceeding from a State court....” I have difficulty attributing to it an intention to sub silentio authorize removal by the FDIC in both the capacities in which it operates. Obviously, Congress knew the FDIC would wear more than one hat, but it did not distinguish between them in authorizing “the Corporation” to remove cases from state courts.
The rule in the Fifth Circuit is that the FDIC gets only one chance to remove a case, under Dalton v. FDIC, 987 F.2d 1216, 1222 (1993):
Even though the two capacities in which the FDIC functions are treated as two distinct legal entities for many purposes, they nonetheless remain merely distinct parts of a single entity, “the Corporation”; and the subject statute affords “the Corporation” but one opportunity to remove the case to federal court. Jurisdiction attaches and the case becomes subject to removal when “the Corporation” becomes involved in the litigation.
I am unable to agree that the words “the Corporation” in section 1819(b)(2)(B) really means “the Corporation, in its capacity as receiver as well as its corporate capacity.” Nor do I believe that our interpretation of the removal statute is so compelling, that we are justified in creating a split among the circuits on the question of the removal authority of a federal agency with cases in all circuits.
Therefore, I respectfully dissent.