MARIANA R. PFAELZER, District Judge.
Guaranty Bank was a federally insured depository institution that failed after the 2007 and 2008 financial crisis. The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA"), codified in Title 12 of the United States Code, authorizes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") to act as receiver for failed depository institutions. As a result of the financial crisis, the FDIC was appointed as receiver to various failed banks across the country, including Guaranty Bank. In its capacity as receiver, the FDIC succeeds to all of the legal rights of the failed institution, including the right to sue on claims previously held by the failed institution. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(2)(A). The FDIC raises claims that center on alleged misrepresentations by various financial institutions involved in the packaging, marketing, and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities ("RMBS") purchased by Guaranty Bank. The RMBS at issue were created through a process known as "securitization." Securitization involves the creation of pools of residential mortgage loans, each of which is designed to produce cash flows from payment on the loans. The loans were pooled and sold to trusts, which backed certificates issued by those trusts. The certificates entitled the holder to a portion of the cash flow from the pool of underlying mortgages. The certificates were sold to underwriters, who sold them to various banks, including Guaranty Bank.
Between July 2005 and April 2006, Guaranty Bank purchased eight RMBS certificates
A Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss should be granted when, assuming the truth of the plaintiffs' allegations, the complaint fails to state a claim for which relief can be granted. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). The Court must assume the truth of the plaintiffs' allegations and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs' favor. Usher v. City of Los Angeles, 828 F.2d 556, 561 (9th Cir.1987). The Court is not required, however, to accept as true "allegations that are merely conclusory, unwarranted deductions of fact, or unreasonable inferences." In re Gilead Scis. Sec. Litig., 536 F.3d 1049, 1055 (9th Cir. 2008). A court reads the complaint as a whole, together with matters appropriate for judicial notice, rather than isolating allegations and taking them out of context. Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322, 127 S.Ct. 2499, 168 L.Ed.2d 179 (2007).
Causes of Action B, C, and D in the FDIC's First Amended Complaint assert violations of the Securities Act of 1933. Section 13 of the Securities Act provides a three-year statute of repose for all claims brought under Sections 11 and 12(a)(2). 15 U.S.C. § 77m. The statute of repose for a Section 11 claim commences on the date that the security was "bona fide offered to the public," while the repose period for a Section 12(a)(2) claim begins to run on the date "of the sale" to plaintiffs. Id. All eight of the certificates at issue were offered to the public and purchased by Guaranty Bank by April 28, 2006 — i.e., more than three years before the FDIC was appointed as receiver for Guaranty Bank. The FDIC's federal securities claims are therefore time-barred. Tolling is not available for the reasons set forth in
The FDIC alleges that the Offering Documents for the eight certificates purchased by Guaranty Bank contain material misrepresentations, in violation of Article 581-33 of the Texas Securities Act ("TSA"). Under the TSA, a plaintiff must bring suit within "three years after discovery of the untruth or omission, or after discovery should have been made by the exercise of reasonable diligence." Tex. Rev.Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 581-33(H)(2)(a). The TSA's three-year statute of limitations had not expired by the date of receivership because a diligent investor could not have discovered the alleged misstatements in the Offering Documents by August 21, 2006, three years before the FDIC was appointed as receiver for Guaranty Bank. See, e.g., Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. as receiver for United W. Bank v. Countryivi.de Fin. Corp., 2:11-CV-10400, 2013 WL 49727, at *1 (C.D.Cal. Jan. 3, 2013) ("[Reasonable investors cannot, as a matter of law, be held to have discovered misstatements until after August 31, 2007."). The TSA claims were live on August 21, 2009, so the FDIC had at least three years to bring the claims by way of FIRREA's extender provision. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(14). Because the complaint was filed on August 17, 2012, Count A is not time-barred on statute of limitations grounds.
In addition to the three-year statute of limitations, the TSA provides that "[n]o person may sue ... more than five years after the sale" of the security in question. Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 581-33(H)(2)(b). The FDIC contends that Article 581-33(H)(2)(b) is a statute of repose that is extended under Section 1821(d)(14) by at least three years after the date of receivership. Because Guaranty Bank purchased all eight of the certificates at issue after August 21, 2004 — five years before Guaranty Bank entered into receivership — the FDIC contends that under FIRREA's extender provision it "had at least three more years to file these claims, which it did on August 17, 2012." Br. in Opp. at 11. FIRREA's extender provision provides in relevant part:
12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(14). The FDIC contends that the term "statute of limitations" contained in Section 1821(d)(14) also refers to statutes of repose. However, an important distinction exists between the terms "statute of limitations" and "statute of repose." The former "requires a lawsuit to be filed within a specific period of time after a legal right has been violated." McDonald v. Sun Oil Co., 548 F.3d 774, 779 (9th Cir.2008) (quotation omitted). Among other things, statutes of limitations are designed to "relieve courts of the burden of adjudicating stale claims when a plaintiff has slept on his rights." Albillo-De Leon v. Gonzales, 410 F.3d 1090, 1095 (9th Cir.2005) (citation omitted). Statutes of repose, on the other hand, stand as a "fixed, statutory cutoff date, usually independent of any variable, such as claimant's awareness of a violation." Munoz v. Ashcroft, 339 F.3d 950, 957 (9th Cir.2003). Statutes of repose are concerned with affording defendants a measure of finality by creating an absolute time limit on potential liability. See McDonald, 548 F.3d at 780. For this reason, statutes of repose are seen as having a "substantive effect because [they] can bar a suit even before the cause of action could have accrued, or, for that matter, retroactively after the cause of action has accrued." Underwood Cotton Co., Inc. v. Hyundai Merck. Marine (Am.), Inc., 288 F.3d 405, 408 (9th Cir.2002); see also Police and Fire Ret. Sys. of City of Detroit v. IndyMac MBS, Inc., 721 F.3d 95, 106 (2013) ("Thus, in contrast to statutes of limitations, statutes of repose create a substantive right in those protected to be free from liability after a legislatively-determined period of time.") (quotation marks and citation omitted).
In Federal Housing Finance Agency v. Countrywide Financial Corp., 900 F.Supp.2d 1055 (C.D.Cal.2012) ("FHFA v. Countrywide"), this Court held that a nearly identical extender provision in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act ("HERA"), applies to the statute of repose contained in Section 13 of the federal Securities Act. Relying on the reasoning in that case, the FDIC asserts that FIRREA's extender provision should also apply to state statutes of repose. In so arguing, the FDIC cites the Court's prior rulings that have applied FIRREA's extender provision to the TSA and the Nevada Securities Act ("NSA"). See Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. as receiver for Franklin Bank, No. 2:12-CV-3279, slip op. at 2 (C.D.Cal. Mar. 21, 2013) (applying Section 1821 to the TSA's five-year limitation period); Security Savings Bank, 934 F.Supp.2d at 1234-35 (applying Section 1821 to the NSA's five-year limitations period). Those rulings dealt primarily with whether FIREA's extender provision applies to the federally created statute of repose contained in Section 13 of the Securities Act. Finding that it does, the Court then applied the extender provision to the five-year limitation contained in the TSA and NSA. Notably, those cases never held explicitly that Section 1821(d)(14) extends state statutes of repose, a question that has troubled the Court for some time. The Court now takes the opportunity to address this issue in detail.
The Court must first determine whether the TSA's five-year limitations provision is, in fact, a statute of repose. By its plain terms, article 581-33(H)(2)(b) functions like a statute of repose because it establishes a fixed cut-off point — "[n]o person may sue ... more than five years after the sale" — regardless of when the plaintiff discovered, or should have discovered, the alleged harm. When interpreting state
Whether FIRREA extends the TSA's statutes of repose is a question of preemption. Article 581-33(H)(2)(b) reflects the State's intent to set a fixed cutoff point to file suit. FIRREA's extenderprovision, however, supplants state time limitations under certain circumstances and grants the FDIC additional time to bring claims. Because federal law supersedes state law under Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, the TSA's statute of repose is displaced by FIRREA if Congress intended such an outcome. See Cipollone v. Liggett Grp., Inc., 505 U.S. 504, 516, 112 S.Ct. 2608, 120 L.Ed.2d 407 (1992) ("[T]he purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone of pre-emption analysis.") (quotation marks and citation omitted). In ascertaining congressional intent, the Court notes that the States have historically regulated the sale of securities under various "bluesky" laws. See Edgar v. MITE Corp., 457 U.S. 624, 641, 102 S.Ct. 2629, 73 L.Ed.2d 269 (1982) ("States have traditionally regulated intrastate securities transactions, and this Court has upheld the authority of States to enact `blue-sky' laws against Commerce Clause challenges on several occasions.") (citations omitted); see also Richard W. Painter, Responding to a False Alarm: Federal Preemption of State Securities Fraud Causes of Action, 84 Cornell L.Rev. 1, 20 (1998) (noting that forty-nine states had already passed their own blue sky laws by the time Congress passed the Securities Act of 1933). Further, the States have long regulated their own failing banks under state codes governing general business insolvencies.
The States' traditional role in regulating securities transactions and troubled banks is significant because the Supreme Court has cautioned that "we have never assumed lightly that Congress has derogated state regulation, but instead have addressed claims of pre-emption with the starting presumption that Congress does not intend to supplant state law." N.Y. State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U.S. 645, 654, 115 S.Ct. 1671, 131 L.Ed.2d 695 (1995); see also Altria Grp., Inc. v. Good, 555 U.S. 70, 77, 129 S.Ct. 538, 172 L.Ed.2d 398 (2008) ("[T]he historic police powers of the State [are] not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.") (quotation marks and citation omitted). One implication of the presumption is that "when the text of a pre-emption clause is susceptible of more than one plausible reading, courts ordinarily `accept the reading that disfavors pre-emption.'" Good, 555 U.S. at 77, 129 S.Ct. 538 (quoting Bates v. Doiv Agrosciences LLC, 544 U.S. 431, 449, 125 S.Ct. 1788, 161 L.Ed.2d 687 (2005)).
The Court must first determine whether FIRREA's extender provision expressly preempts the TSA's statute of repose. See Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Cuesta et at, 458 U.S. 141, 153, 102 S.Ct. 3014, 73 L.Ed.2d 664 (1982). Express preemption analysis involves the use of statutory interpretation techniques to determine the scope of preemption described by the clause. Medtronic v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 484, 116 S.Ct. 2240, 135 L.Ed.2d 700 (1996). While the plain language of Section 1821(d)(14) indicates that Congress expressly preempted state statutes of limitation to the extent they limit
In McDonald, the Ninth Circuit considered whether an exception to state statutes of limitation imposed by the Comprehensive Environmental Repose, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERLA"), applied to state statutes of repose. Id. at 779. CERCLA displaces state statutes of limitations that commence earlier than the federally required period for injuries caused by environmental contamination. 42 U.S.C. § 9658(a)(1). The Ninth Circuit determined that the ordinary meaning of "[t]he term `statute of limitations' was ambiguous regarding whether it included statutes of repose... in 1986" when the statute was enacted. Id. at 781. In the context of HERA's extender provision, this Court concluded that Congress and federal courts continued to confuse the terms "statute of limitations" and "statute of repose" in 2008. FHFA v. Countryivide, 900 F.Supp.2d at 1063-66. In Security Savings Bank, the Court found — and continues to find — that the term "statute of limitation" was ambiguous with respect to whether the term included statutes of repose when Congress passed FIRREA in 1989. Security Savings Bank, 934 F.Supp.2d at 1223-24.
Per McDonald, when the ordinary meaning of the term "statute of limitation" is ambiguous, the Court must turn to FIREA's legislative history for further guidance. See McDonald, 548 F.3d at 782. It appears that the only piece of relevant evidence is a statement from Senator Riegle indicating that the extender provision "will significantly increase the amount of money that can be recovered by the Federal Government through litigation" and "should be construed to maximize potential recoveries by the Federal Government by preserving to the greatest extent permissible by law claims that would otherwise have been lost due to the expiration of hitherto applicable limitations periods." 135 Cong.Rec. S10205 (Daily Ed. Aug. 4, 1989). This statement is insufficient to overcome the presumption against preemption, particularly when compared to the legislative history considered in Mc-Donald. There, the Ninth Circuit found that the legislative history of CERCLA strongly indicated that Congress' use of the term "statute of limitations" included statutes of repose based on two critical pieces of evidence. See McDonald 548 F.3d at 782-83. The first was a committee print that recommended "the repeal of the statutes of repose, which in a number of states have the same effect as some statutes of limitation in barring plaintiffs claim before he knows that he has one." Id. at 782. The second was a conference report which showed Congress' concern
Where the statute at issue does not expressly preempt state law, the Court looks for implied preemption. See Cipollone, 505 U.S. at 516, 112 S.Ct. 2608. Implied preemption takes two forms: field preemption and conflict preemption. Field preemption exists where the "federal law so thoroughly occupies a legislative field as to make reasonable the inference that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it." Id. (quotation marks and citation omitted). Here, FIRREA's extender provision clearly leaves room for the operation of state law by recognizing state causes of action sounding in contract and tort. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(14). Further, the extender provision saves state statutes of limitations from preemption to the extent they exceed the prescribed federal limitations period. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(14); see also O'Melveny & Myers v. FDIC, 512 U.S. 79, 87, 114 S.Ct. 2048, 129 L.Ed.2d 67 (1994) (holding that FIRREA requires the FDIC "to work out its claims under state law, except where some provision in the extensive framework of FIRREA provides otherwise").
The Supreme Court has recognized two forms of conflict preemption: impossibility and obstacle. Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick, 514 U.S. 280, 287, 115 S.Ct. 1483, 131 L.Ed.2d 385 (1995). Regarding the former category of preemption, the FDIC cannot now comply with the TSA's five-year statute of repose while also availing itself of FIRREA's extender provision. But impossibility preemption turns on "whether compliance is impossible, not whether noncompliance is possible." Draper v. Chiapuzio, 9 F.3d 1391, 1393 (9th Cir.1993) ("Here, compliance with both federal and state law is not a `physical impossibility'.... Only a plaintiff who waits more than one year to give the required notice under the state statute can no longer comply with both state and federal law."); see also Robertson v. Wegmann, 436 U.S. 584, 593, 98 S.Ct. 1991, 56 L.Ed.2d 554 (1978) ("A state statute cannot be considered `inconsistent' with federal law merely because the statute causes the plaintiff to lose the litigation."). Impossibility preemption is therefore inapplicable because the FDIC could have timely brought the TSA claims had it filed suit within five years of the date the security was sold.
The question of preemption thus turns on whether the TSA's statute of repose "stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress." Arizona v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 2492, 2505, 183 L.Ed.2d 351 (2012) (quotation marks and citation omitted). "What is a sufficient obstacle is a matter of judgment, to be informed by examining the federal statute as a whole and identifying its purpose and intended effect." Crosby v. Nat'l Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363, 373, 120 S.Ct. 2288, 147 L.Ed.2d 352 (2000). The mere fact of
FIRREA's "core purpose" is to "ensure that the assets of a failed institution are distributed fairly and promptly among those with valid claims against the institution, and to expeditiously wind up the affairs of failed banks." McCarthy v. FDIC, 348 F.3d 1075, 1079 (9th Cir.2003); see also GECCMC 2005-Cl Plummer Street Office Ltd. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 671 F.3d 1027, 1035 (9th Cir.2012); see also; Office & Profl Employees Int'l. Union, Local 2 v. FDIC, 962 F.2d 63, 68 (D.C.Cir. 1992). A well-capitalized insurance fund — enriched in part by recoveries from litigation — is certainly one component to further this purpose.
Even if enriching the deposit insurance fund were a significant objective of FIREA, the Court is unconvinced that Congress intended to substantively redefine state causes of action in furtherance of this purpose. FIRREA provides that when the FDIC acts as receiver, it succeeds to "all rights, titles, powers, and privileges of the insured depository institution, and of any stockholder, member, accountholder, depositor, officer, or director of such institution with respect to the institution and the assets of the institution." 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(2)(A)(i). In other words, the FDIC as receiver stepped "in the shoes" of Guaranty Bank, thereby "obtaining the rights of the insured depository institution that existed prior to receivership." O'Melveny, 512 U.S. at 86, 114 S.Ct. 2048 (quotation marks omitted). Although FIRREA empowers the FDIC to sue on any state right it obtained from the failed institution, nowhere does FIRREA allow the FDIC to substantively define the nature and scope of those rights. See id. (finding that FIREA "places the FDIC in the insolvent [institution's] shoes to pursue its claims under state law"). In fact, congressional acceptance of the states' role in defining the scope of their various causes of action is evidenced by the enactment of 12 U.S.C. § 1821(k)(3), which authorizes the FDIC to sue directors or officers of insured institutions for "disregard of a duty of care ... as such terms are defined and determined under applicable State laiv." (emphasis added)
Here, the state of Texas created the right upon which the FDIC sues. Under FIRREA, it is Texas law that defines the existence and scope of the right that the FDIC received from Guaranty Bank. The Texas Supreme Court has held that statutes of repose are not a procedural limitation but "a substantive definition of rights." FDIC v. Lenk, 361 S.W.3d 602, 609 (Tex.2012) (quoting Jefferson State Bank v. Lenk, 323 S.W.3d 146, 147 n. 2 (Tex.2010)); see also Trunkhill Capital, Inc. v. Jansma, 905 S.W.2d 464, 467 (Tex. Ct.App.1995) ("The effect of a statute of repose is that a party cannot possess, and never did possess, a cause of action if it did not arise within a given time period, regardless of the party's diligence after discovering the defect or problem; thus, a statute of repose has been said to be a substantive definition of rights.") (citation omitted). The TSA's statute of repose therefore defines, limits, and even terminates the right that the FDIC received from Guaranty Bank. Preemption in this case would effectively permit the FDIC to succeed to a substantially different right than that held by Guaranty Bank. Cf. Waterview Mgmt. Co. v. FDIC, 105 F.3d 696, 701 (D.C.Cir.1997) (finding that state law governs contractual relationships under FIRREA and that receivers cannot "increase the value of the asset in its hands by simply `preempting' out of existence pre-receivership contractual obligations");
At the hearing on the motion to dismiss, counsel for the FDIC claimed that a Texas Court of Appeals in Colvest Mortgage, Inc. v. Clark, 05-95-00989-CV, 1996 WL 429300 (Tex.Ct.App. July 23, 1996), held that FIRREA's extender provision preempts state statutes of repose. This is simply wrong. At issue in Colvest was a two-year limitation period under section 51.003(d) of the Texas Property Code. Id. at *1. Although the court found that FIREA's extender provision preempted the statute, the Colvest court noted that Section 51.003(d) was a statute of limitation and not a statute of repose. Id. at *3 n. 1; see also Trunkhill Capital, Inc. v. Jansma, 905 S.W.2d 464, 468 (Tex.Ct.App. 1995) ("We hold that section 51.003(a) is a statute of limitations, not a statute of repose.").
Therefore, because FIRREA's extender provision does not preempt Article 581 — 33(H)(2)(b), the FDIC lost the right to sue on all eight of the certificates before the FDIC filed this action. Cause of Action A in the First Amended Complaint is timebarred and therefore
The FDIC's federal law claims are all time-barred by the statute of repose under Section 13 of the Securities Act. No tolling doctrine saves those claims. The FDIC's Texas Securities Act claim is time-barred by the statute of repose under article 581-33(H)(2)(b). FIRREA's extender provision does not preempt article 581-33(H)(2)(b). Because all of the FDIC's claims are dismissed as untimely, the Court need not consider the successorliability claims against BAC. All dismissals are with prejudice.
IT IS SO ORDERED.