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The six Polish and Slavic FCU (P&SFCU) directors dismissed when NCUA seized the $600 million-asset FCU on April 17, 1999 and who are scheduled to make oral arguments in their federal court appeal March 17, appear undaunted by the agency's latest legal move-a February 23 motion to dismiss the appeal as "moot."
According to the directors' March 5 response brief, NCUA's release did not come totally unencumbered from continuing agency control: it foreclosed any change in the agency-appointed board until 2001, when only a minority portion could be voted out, and it imposed restrictions on P&SFCU's activities in the form of unpublished letters of understanding.
And, of course, the directors added, it did not address a major claim of their suit: the reinstatement of the dissolved board, which could occur, they say, if their statutory challenge to the conservatorship prevails.
As such, the directors state, the suit cannot be dismissed as moot, for the legal standard to do so requires that an event must occur "that makes it impossible for the court to grant `any effectual relief whatever' to a prevailing party." Exceptions to this doctrine, the directors say, include evidence that there "is no reasonable expectation" that the conduct will recur" or that interim relief has "completely and irrevocably eradicated the effects of the alleged violation."
Neither of these exceptions are satisfied by NCUA's release order, the brief argues, because not only has relief-interim or otherwise-not included reinstatement of the dissolved but democratically elected board, but also there is nothing in NCUA's reinstatement action to prevent a recurrence of another conservatorship, should the agency be unhappy with a newly elected board.
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NAFCU is reporting that it netted $308,000 in 1999 on $8.9 million in revenues, a significant increase over 1998's net of $192,436 on $8.4 million in revenues. The lion's share of the association's 1999 revenues, documents show, came from membership dues which totaled $4.7 million, while the highest expense was in "administration and overhead" at $5.6 million.
NAFCU received over $2 million in revenues from conferences in 1999 and spent $1.7 million in the effort. Additionally, total year-end assets were declared to be $8.1 million versus $7.9 million in 1998, and cash-on-hand at year-end was reported at $92,502.
Association records also showed that $276,009 held over from 1998 for the CU Campaign for Consumer Choice-and incorrectly reported on Credit Union Times' Web site as remaining-had been cleared from the books.
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January NCUA figures on FOM expansions and conversions (see related story page 1) reveal that seven occupational FCUs were granted community charters at the regional level for a total potential membership increase of 816,000. This, in addition to the two community charters granted by the NCUA Board at its January and February meetings-Universal Campus FCU, of Provo, Utah and Wesla FCU of Shreveport, Louisiana-brings the new community CU total to nine for a potential membership increase of 1.5 million.
The agency also reported that year-to-March 3 it approved the addition of 2,459 new groups (or 383 in the last reporting week) to multiple group FCUs for a total potential membership increase of 242,015 (35,015). The agency said that the average size of these approved groups as of March 3 was 98 potential members. -
gmcorrigan@mindspring.com
