Banking Law

Litigation arising from bank failures continues to form a prominent part of the banking law landscape for this survey period. Under this general heading, the Fifth Circuit continued to refine its analysis of the interplay between local law relating to tax sales and the special rights afforded to the FDIC, reviewed the special law applicable to the authority (or lack thereof) of agents for the FDIC, and considered whether the special statute of limitations applicable to claims brought by the FDIC should be judicially amended, or rather construed, to include a tolling clause borrowed from the general limitation statute.

Unfortunately, criminal actions relating to banking law were numerous during the survey period. For a discussion of those topics, the reader is referred to the Criminal Procedure article of this survey. The Fifth Circuit considered five appeals involving criminal actions against bank insiders, and this article reviews the facts of those cases. Lastly, two miscellaneous decisions are included. One opinion relates to whether a limitations period should be tolled due to the fiduciary relationship that may exist between a bank giving investment advice and the bank's customer. The other decision addresses whether the issuer of a letter of credit may be sued in the United States if the issuer is an instrumentality of a foreign state.