Studebaker v. Perry

Background

A shareholder who had paid an initial assessment challenged the Comptroller of the Currency’s power to demand any further contributions after that single payment. The dispute turns on national banking statutes that make shareholders individually responsible up to the par value of their stock for the bank’s contracts and debts, and on rules letting the Comptroller appoint a receiver, collect assets, and enforce shareholder liability.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether the Comptroller can lawfully make more than one assessment when the first call did not satisfy creditors. It rejected the shareholder’s arguments that liability is purely contractual and therefore limited to one assessment, and that long-standing practice of some earlier Comptrollers required a single call. The opinion reasons that a single assessment could defeat the statute’s purpose to protect creditors, create practical hardships, and cause delay or loss. The Court relied on prior decisions saying the Comptroller’s judgment about necessity and amount is conclusive, that receivers act under the Comptroller’s direction, and that surplus payments are returned to shareholders, supporting successive assessments when needed.

Real world impact

The ruling affirms that the Comptroller may require additional payments from shareholders as the receiver and Comptroller learn more about the bank’s debts and asset realizations. Shareholders cannot treat an earlier voluntary payment as a full discharge if debts remain. The Circuit Court of Appeals’ judgment was affirmed, and the Court limited reliance on past administrative practice when the statute’s meaning is plain.