California Federal Bank v. United States

OPINION

HODGES, Judge.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the United States breached its contracts with certain financial institutions when it enacted the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), United States v. Winstar Corporation, 518 U.S. 839, 116 S.Ct. 2432, 135 L.Ed.2d 964 (1996). FIRREA eliminated the use of a special accounting treatment for banks’ acquisitions of failing thrifts. Therefore, the law of this case is that the Government broke its promise to California Federal Bank (Cal Fed) that it could count “supervisory goodwill” as capital and amortize it…