Michael A. Willner, et ux. v. James Dimon, et al.

Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”) to enable the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) to expeditiously wind up the affairs of literally hundreds of failed financial institutions throughout the country. See Freeman v. FDIC, 56 F.3d 1394,1398 (1995). Claims filed against a failed financial institution under FIRREA which are disallowed by the FDIC may be filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (“DDC”) for de novo review so long as they are filed within 60 days of the FDIC’s disallowance. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(6)(A). The statute is silent, however, regarding the filing of claims against the FDIC for constitutional violations arising from its determination to disallow claims filed against a failed financial institution for which it is the receiver. The question presented is: Whether the DC Circuit erroneously held that 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(6)(A) required claimants to have filed their constitutional claims against the FDIC in federal court within 60 days of the accrual of such claims, where the statute’s clear and unambiguous language expressly applies only to claims that were disallowed by the FDIC and claimants’ constitutional claims were not considered or disallowed by the FDIC.