Justia Federal District Court Opinions

American Security and Trust Company, as Trustee in Reorganization for Parkwood, Inc., and Adams Properties, Inc., appeals from a denial of its objections to and the allowance of the secured claims of the three appellees, first by the Referee in Bankruptcy and then by the United States District Court. For the reasons set forth herein we affirm the District Court's rulings as to appellee Manufacturers, reverse as to appellee Hartford, and remand for further proceedings as to appellee Equitable.

In May and July 1966 petitions were filed in the District Court under Chapter X of the Bankruptcy Act for reorganization of Parkwood, Inc., and Adams Properties, Inc. (wholly owned subsidiary of Parkwood). In October 1966 Equitable Life Insurance Company filed a proof of claim as a secured creditor of Parkwood in the principal amount of $226,654.10; Manufacturers Life Insurance Company did likewise in the principal amount of $562,963.62; and Hartford Life Insurance Company filed as a secured creditor of Adams Properties, Inc., in the principal amount of $78,803.31. All claims were evidenced by a note or notes and a deed of trust.

On 1 May 1968 the Trustee objected to all three claims. By order of 26 March 1969 the Referee in Bankruptcy denied the Trustee's objections and allowed all three claims.

On petition for review of this order, after hearing argument the District Court, by order of 4 February 1970, denied the Trustee's petition for review, ratified the order of the Referee, and confirmed and adopted the Referee's memorandum and his findings of fact and conclusions of law.

While there are important differences, the facts common to the three assertedly secured creditors are these. In each instance the original borrower obtained a loan from a corporation allegedly engaged in the business of lending money in the District of Columbia, executing a note or notes therefor and securing the indebtedness by a deed of trust on property located in the State of Maryland. Each original note bore interest in excess of 6%, thus running afoul of the District of Columbia Loan Shark Law,1 if such law applies to the transaction. Thereafter, in the instance of Equitable, the original debtor sold the property to Parkwood, which took the property subject to the deed of trust but did not assume the note. In the instance of Manufacturers, the original loan was made by Manufacturers through a mortgage loan correspondent in the District of Columbia, and thereafter the original debtor sold the property to Parkwood, who took the property subject to the deeds of trust but did not assume the two notes. In the instance of Hartford, the original debtor sold the property to Adams, who likewise took the property subject to the deed of trust but did not assume the note.

The issues involve principally the standing of the Trustee to attack the validity of the deeds of trust held by the secured claimants; the applicability of Sec. 601 of the District of Columbia Loan Shark Law to loans by insurance companies; whether the real estate brokermortgage banker, the original maker of the loan held by Hartford, is exempt under Sec. 610 of that law; and, even if the above issues be decided in favor of the Trustee, whether certain facts peculiar to each individual claim would enable the secured claimant to maintain its position.

II. Standing of the Trustee to Attack the Validity of the Deeds of Trust

Of all the complex legal issues we have to determine in this case, perhaps this is the simplest to resolve. It will aid in clarity of analysis to keep in mind these facts: that the Trustee here is not acting on behalf of Parkwood and Adams, the debtor corporations, but on behalf of all creditors, particularly the unsecured creditors; that none of the notes secured by the deeds of trust was assumed by either Parkwood or Adams, and therefore the claims against the bankrupt estate rest entirely and only on the deeds of trust covering the particular pieces of realty involved. Two of the principal grounds relied upon by the Referee, and approved by the District Court, were that the Trustee was "estopped" from attacking the validity of the deeds of trust and therefore could not set them aside by asserting rights under Secs. 70(c) and (e) of the Bankruptcy Act, and that somehow it was inequitable or would be a windfall to Parkwood and Adams to have these deeds of trust set aside. We think these two bases of decision by the Referee and the District Court were unsound.

In the first instance, what is equitable in a bankruptcy proceeding-and bankruptcy is part of the equity jurisdiction of the District Court-has been rather specifically spelled out in the Bankruptcy Act itself. In the second place, those provisions equally specifically give the Trustee here a right to set aside invalid deeds of trust.

Under Sec. 70(c) of the Bankruptcy Act2 the trustee possesses the rights of any hypothetical lien creditor of the debtor. The trustee's rights do not depend on the existence of any such creditor, but it has the status of "the ideal creditor, irreproachable and without notice, armed cap-a-pie with every right and power which is conferred by the law of the state upon its most favorite creditor who has acquired a lien by legal or equitable proceedings."3

It follows that in the exercise of such rights the trustee cannot be affected by any so-called estoppel which may be attributable to the debtor. The whole purpose of Sec. 70(c) was to give the trustee defenses which the trustee might otherwise not have if he were confined to the position of the bankrupt, who may very frequently have engaged in various acts which would estop him to deny the validity of his security obligations. The bankrupt may have engaged in chicanery or favoritism of certain creditors or other acts that "are in derogation of the Bankruptcy Act's paramount purpose: equality of distribution among all creditors. . . . The trustee would be sorely handicapped if he were not accorded some superior status, attaching as of the date of bankruptcy, that would enable him to challenge the validity of such transactions. This, then, is the purpose of the second sentence of Sec. 70(c). It has been justly and characteristically termed 'the strong-arm clause."'4

As of the date the petition for reorganization was filed the Trustee here gained the rights and powers of a lien creditor who had perfected his lien on the property of the debtor, irrespective of whether such a creditor actually exists, so says Sec. 70(c). Among other powers of a lien creditor is the right to set aside an invalid deed of trust on the property.5

In addition to the trustee's rights under Sec. 70(c), which apply versus all three mortgagees here, under Sec. 70(e)6 of the Bankruptcy Act the trustee can assert the rights of any existing creditor who could move to set aside the deed of trust held by Equitable. In contrast to Sec. 70 (c), Sec. 70(e) requires the existence of a real creditor having that power. Potomac Cooperators, Inc., holds a second deed of trust on the same property on which Equitable holds a first deed of trust, and has filed proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding as a secured creditor. The Trustee himself, for the same reason that Potomac Cooperators could move to set aside the allegedly invalid deed of trust held by Equitable, moved to void the deed of trust under Sec. 70(e). Furthermore, the directive in Sec. 47(a) (8) of the Bankruptcy Act7 to "examine all proofs of claim and object to the allowance of such claims as may be improper" requires the trustee to object to all invalid security instruments. In so doing, the trustee is acting for the benefit of all creditors and not, as the Referee and the court seemed to think, to create a "windfall" for the reorganized corporations whose affairs are being administered.⁸

We conclude that the Trustee had standing to attack the validity of the deeds of trust held by the claimant insurance companies under Secs. 70(c) and 70(e) of the Bankruptcy Act, and that the District Court erred in holding to the contrary.

III. The Applicability of the District of Columbia Loan Shark Act to Loans Made by Insurance Companies

Section 26-601 of the District of Columbia Code provides:

It shall be unlawful and illegal to engage in the District of Columbia in the business of loaning money upon which a rate of interest greater than six percentum per annum is charged on any security of any kind . . . without procuring license. . . .

Section 26-610 of the Code exempts certain specified types of businesses from the operation of Sec. 26-601. At the time the loans herein were made, life insurance companies were not among the businesses so exempted. In construing Sec. 26-601 this court has held that

It applies to all who would engage, in the District of Columbia, in the business of lending money upon which a rate of interest greater than six per centum per annum is charged, except those exempted by section 26-610.⁹

Appellees Equitable and Manufacturers nevertheless argue that Sec. 26-601 does not apply to insurance companies which "invest" their funds by making loans secured by real estate. This argument, which the District Court accepted, rests essentially upon three bases which we now examine.

First, it is maintained that life insurance companies are not engaged in the business of loaning money, but rather that the making of loans (the "investment of funds" in appellees' terms) is an integral part of the insurance business. But there is nothing in the statute which suggests that it applies only to those whose sole business is that of loaning money. In fact, Sec. 26-601 regulates the regular activity of loaning money regardless of whether those who are so engaged do so as part of another business.¹⁰ Indeed, while not disputing that the lending of money is an integral part of the insurance business, appellant points out that if that were sufficient to remove a company from the coverage of Sec. 26-601, then the exemption section (Sec. 26-610) would be largely unnecessary.

Section 26-610 provides that nothing in Sec. 26-601 shall apply "to the legitimate business of national banks, licensed bankers, trust companies, savings banks, building and loan associations . . . or real estate brokers."¹¹ Each of these exempted businesses is obviously engaged in activity which integrally involves the loaning of money. Thus if insurance companies were to be held not to be in the business of loaning money simply because their loans are an integral part of another, i. e., the insurance, business, the same rationale would apply for example to banks, whose loans can be said to be an integral part of the banking business, and there would have been no need specifically to exempt banks from the operation of the statute. We thus cannot agree with the Referee in Bankruptcy and the District Court that life insurance companies which regularly loan money on security are not "engaged in the business of loaning money" simply because they do so as part of their insurance business.

The second ground advanced to sustain the District Court's ruling is that since life insurance companies are comprehensively regulated under the provisions of Title 35 of the District of Columbia Code, they cannot be subject to licensing regulation of their lending activities under Sec. 26-601.¹² In the first place, we note that many of the other businesses exempted by Sec. 26-610 are also extensively regulated under other provisions of the District of Columbia Code or otherwise, but that such regulation did not obviate the need specifically to exempt them in Sec. 26-610. Furthermore, we find nothing in Title 35 which conflicts with the purpose of regulation of lenders under Sec. 26-601. Title 35 is concerned with the regulation of insurance companies for the protection of their policyholders. The Loan Shark Law, on the other hand, regulates those in the business of loaning money, in order to protect borrowers. Such regulation of lending activities for the protection of borrowers is in no way inconsistent with the regulation of insurance activities for the protection of policyholders.

The Referee and the District Court cited D.C.Code Sec. 35-535 which authorizes life insurance companies to lend money against the security of real estate. But Sec. 35-535 is nothing more than a "legal list" of investments which life insurance companies are permitted to make and is clearly directed toward the protection of policyholders. It says nothing concerning the terms on which such loans may be made, and thus in no way precludes other regulation for the protection of borrowers where interest in excess of 6% is to be charged. To hold that regulation of the insurance business as such, under one part of the Code, automatically exempts insurance companies from other types of regulation would nullify the effect of many general regulatory statutes insofar as the operations of insurance companies are concerned. For example, the same reasoning would support the conclusion that insurance companies were not subject to the usury statute, D.C. Code Sec. 28-3301. And the provision in Sec. 35-535(14) (f) that life insurance companies may acquire real estate "for the production of income . . . [and] may improve or otherwise develop in any manner such real estate . . ." might, under the reasoning of the District Court, lead to the conclusion that life insurance companies which own property need not comply with the building and zoning regulations of the District. We conclude, as we must, that nothing in Title 35's regulation of insurance companies prevents or precludes the application of Sec. 26-601 to loans such as those involved in the case at bar.

Finally, appellees urge that the legislative history of the Loan Shark Act indicates that it was not intended to apply to large loans made by "institutional lenders" and secured by real estate. In the first place, this view ignores the principle that where the meaning of a statute is plain on its face, interpretation thereof by resort to legislative history is improper.¹³ Here the Act plainly applies to all who are in the business of lending money on security at a rate of interest in excess of 6% except for those types of organizations specifically exempted from coverage by Sec. 26-610. And this court has expressly held that Sec. 26-601 applies to large loans secured by real estate.¹⁴

As illustrative of the general recognition that large loans secured by real estate do fall within Sec. 26-601, one need only consider the position of real estate brokers. Acting as agents for others, real estate brokers customarily participate in transactions involving large real estate loans. If such transactions did not fall within Sec. 26-601, it would never have been thought necessary to include real estate brokers in the list of those exempted under that section.

In contrast, prior to 1963 life insurance companies were not included in the list of organizations exempted by Sec. 26-610. It therefore inexorably follows that life insurance companies which prior to 1963 made loans at interest rates in excess of 6% were required to be licensed under Sec. 26-601. And if such loans were made without a license in violation of Sec. 26-601, they are, under the prior holdings of this court, together with the promissory notes and deeds of trust given therefor, illegal and void. As we held in Hartman v. Lubar,¹⁵

if the disputed loan was made by one who was engaging in the business of lending money in violation of the law, and if the loan was made in the course of that business, then it constituted an illegal contract. The general rule is that an illegal contract, made in violation of a statutory prohibition designed for police or regulatory purposes, is void and confers no right upon the wrongdoer. * * * Every consideration of public policy suggests that a contract made in violation of the Loan Shark Law should be unenforceable.

If Congress, when it exempted life insurance companies from the coverage of the Loan Shark Act in 1963, had intended to validate previous transactions made by life insurance companies in violation of the Loan Shark Act, it could have done so by providing that the exemption granted in 1963 would have a retroactive effect. It did not do so.¹⁶

The history of other exemptions added to Sec. 26-610 is illuminating. In 1960 Congress added small business investment companies to the list of those exempted. The House Committee on Banking and Currency stated the necessity for such exemption in terms unmistakably refuting the position of appellee insurance companies here:

Although it [Sec. 26-601 et seq.] was obviously not intended to apply to SBIC's, it does apply to them literally and constitutes an obstacle to effective operation of SBIC's in the District of Columbia. The bill grants the same exemption for SBIC's that is now written into the law for commercial banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations, and real estate brokers.¹⁷

Again in 1962, in hearings on the bill predecessor to the 1963 amendment, which eventually exempted life insurance companies under Sec. 26-610, Congress was well aware that Sec. 26-601 applied to all entities not specifically exempted by Sec. 601, including life insurance companies. Testimony of the Chairman of the Legislative Committee, Mortgage Bankers Association of Metropolitan Washington, asserted that a majority of life insurance companies making mortgage loans in the District of Columbia had decided on advice of counsel that, as a result of court decisions and the omission of insurance companies from the list of those lending institutions exempted from the so-called Loan Shark Law, such insurance companies should not lend money in the District of Columbia at rates in excess of 6%.¹⁸ The purpose of H.R. 9441 (the predecessor in the preceding Congress of H.R. 3191 enacted in the 88th Congress) was described as "to remove a barrier that now prevents the free flow of money into the District of Columbia for investment and mortgage loans on real estate."¹⁹

Under established principles of statutory construction it is significant that Congress acted to add small business investment companies and insurance companies to the list of exemptions under Sec. 26-610, and has never sought to amend Sec. 26-601 after this court's repeated interpretation of Sec. 26-601 as including "all who would engage, in the District of Columbia, in the business of lending money upon which a rate of interest greater than 6 per centum per annum is charged, except those exempted by Sec. 26-610."²⁰ If Congress had interpreted Sec. 26-601 as the District Court did here, it would never have found it necessary in 1960 and 1963 to add exemptions. Nor would it have stated in 1963, adding the life insurance companies to Sec. 610, "The purpose of this bill [H.R. 3191] is to exempt life insurance companies from the provision of an act regulating moneylending."²¹ This same amendment also added a requirement that persons or legal entities exempted from Sec. 601 by Sec. 610(a) should maintain in the District of Columbia a resident agent, and provided a sanction that if the otherwise exempted entity did fail to appoint and maintain such resident agent, then it was not entitled to the exemption provided by Sec. 26-610(a). If Congress considered that the entities could have recourse to any other exemption except that provided by Sec. 26-610 (a), this sanction would have been obviously useless.

We conclude that life insurance companies which regularly make loans in the course of their insurance business are in the business of lending money within the meaning of Sec. 26-601 and until 1963 were not exempt from the requirement of obtaining a license in order to make loans at a rate of interest in excess of 6%. It follows that unless considerations peculiar to the cases of Equitable and Manufacturers operate to remove the transactions here involved from the applicability of the Loan Shark Law, the deeds of trust securing the loans herein are invalid and thus subject to attack by the Trustee in reorganization. To such considerations we now turn.

IV. Claim of the Equitable Life Insurance Company

A. Pertinent facts.

On 22 December 1959 Potomac Cooperators, Inc., borrowed $375,000.00 from Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Co., executing a note at an interest rate of 6 1/4% per year, the loan being secured by a deed of trust on real estate in Maryland. Acacia is a District of Columbia corporation with its sole office in the District. On 22 March 1961 Equitable purchased the promissory note from Acacia at full value. On 28 August 1961 the promissory note was renegotiated and amended to provide for payment of interest at the rate of 6% per year, with new release provisions, new monthly payments, and a new maturity date. Potomac as the maker of the original note and the amended note ratified, confirmed and fully assumed the amended note and deed of trust.

On 5 December 1963, Sec. 26-610 of the D.C.Code, the so-called Loan Shark Act, was amended expressly to exclude life insurance companies from the coverage of Sec. 26-601.

On 20 February 1964, Parkwood, Inc., purchased the property subject to the deed of trust securing the note held by Equitable, the interest thereon at this time being 6%. Parkwood did not assume the note.

At the time the loan was made (1959), Acacia was engaged in the insurance business in the District of Columbia and also engaged in the business of loaning money, the evidence showing that from its sole office in the District substantial loans (from $500,000.00 to several million dollars per year) were made. Acacia did not possess the license required by Sec. 26-601. The amendment of Sec. 26-610 on 5 December 1963 exempting loans made by life insurance companies from the coverage of Sec. 26-601 was prospective only.

B. Effect of amending the note.

On this appeal Equitable represents that it purchased the note at Potomac's request pursuant to a prior agreement to amend the note. The prior agreement is claimed to have been evidenced in a commitment letter whereby Equitable agreed to take over the loan at a new rate of 6% interest and thus to reform the note and amend the deed of trust. However, because the Referee, affirmed by the District Court, decided that the Trustee's objection to Equitable's claim was insufficient as a matter of law, and thus granted Equitable's motion to dismiss the objection on the ground that the Loan Shark Act did not apply to the original loan transaction here, there is no evidence in the record before us which bears upon the claimed prior agreement between Potomac and Equitable to reform the note to provide for interest at the rate of 6%. We are therefore unable to determine whether the effect of the transaction between Equitable and Potomac was to bring about a novation or to otherwise cure the invalidity of the loan under the Loan Shark Act.

Since Equitable has not had an opportunity to introduce evidence to establish the facts relevant to the amendment of the note, we have determined that the case must be remanded for factual findings and, based on the facts as established on remand, a determination as to whether the effect of the transaction between Equitable and Potomac was to render the note valid and enforceable as a result of the amendment.

The Trustee argues that the amendment to provide for 6% interest could not in any event validate the loan, since prior to the purchase of the note interest was paid at 6 1/4%, a rate higher than permitted to an unlicensed lender under the Loan Shark Act. Because the excess interest thus paid has never been restored, it is maintained that the total interest paid over the life of the loan must inevitably be greater than 6%, notwithstanding the amendment. In support of this position, the Trustee cites authorities indicating that prior payment of usury renders any subsequent renewal of the transaction usurious, even though the usurious rate of interest is eliminated by the renewal, unless the previously paid usurious interest is restored.²²

The instant case, however, does not involve a violation of the usury law, which in the District of Columbia sets an absolute limitation of 8% on the amount of interest that may be collected by any lender, but rather concerns the loan shark statute which imposes a disability on certain lenders, i. e., non-exempt, unlicensed lenders, to charge interest in excess of 6%. Because Acacia was nonexempt and unlicensed, its loan at a rate of 6 1/4% was illegal under the Loan Shark Act and as a consequence it could not recover on the note, which was void as to both principal and interest.

It does not follow, however, that Potomac, which actually received the money lent, could not, in fulfillment of its moral obligation,²³ contract with a third party to assume the note at a legal rate of interest in consideration of the reformation of the note. Potomac could, after all, have made the same original loan contract with an exempt or licensed lender and have no basis for avoiding its obligation to repay the loan. This distinguishes the instant case from the usury situation where any loan made at a rate of interest in excess of 8% would be invalid regardless of who the lender might be.

We think that the defense of violation of the Loan Shark Act, thus avoiding the obligation to repay the loan, must be limited in effectiveness to use against those unlicensed, non-exempt lenders who actually contract for or receive interest in excess of 6%. If Equitable, at Potomac's request and with Potomac's express assent and agreement, had purchased the note without any reduction of interest amendment being contemplated or made, but at that time was licensed or exempt under the Loan Shark Law, we do not think Potomac could have avoided payment of the loan on the grounds that it was originally made by an unlicensed lender. Similarly here, where Equitable was unlicensed, if when it agreed to purchase the note it was contemplated and agreed by both it and Potomac that the note would be amended to provide for a legal rate of interest for unlicensed lenders (6%), we think that Potomac, by agreeing to such a transfer and ratifying it could no longer avoid its obligation of repayment on the ground of violation of the Loan Shark Act. If the note and deed of trust thus became valid as to Potomac, as a result of the amendment and ratification, the deed of trust would likewise be valid as to Parkwood, which purchased the property subject to the deed of trust from Potomac subsequent to the amendment of the note.

On remand Equitable should have an opportunity to establish that the intent of the parties at the time Equitable purchased the note was to reform the transaction, so as to eliminate any further payment of interest at a rate in excess of 6%, and that Potomac through its ratification intended to be bound on the note to repay the remainder of the loan to Equitable at a legal rate of interest.²⁴

V. The Claim of Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

A. Pertinent facts.

On 30 August 1960 Pend-Maple, Inc., borrowed $545,000.00 from the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. On 13 June 1961 Pend-Maple, Inc., borrowed another $75,000.00. Each loan was secured by a deed of trust on real estate in Maryland and each note carried 6 1/4% interest.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company is a Canadian corporation with its principal office in Toronto. On the relevant dates it maintained an office in the District of Columbia for selling insurance, but no office under its name for the purpose of making real estate loans. Pend-Maple, Inc., was a Maryland corporation, and executed the application for both loans in Maryland.

Pend-Maple, Inc., made the loan application to H. G. Smithy Company, a District of Columbia real estate broker and a mortgage broker. This loan was not solicited for Manufacturers, and at that time H. G. Smithy Company did not solicit loans on behalf of any one lender. It took loan applications and then decided where best to place them. Smithy charged Pend-Maple, Inc., a fee for placing the loan, but also paid Manufacturers a fee to accept the application. Smithy thus functioned as an independent broker making its own profit depending on its success in placing the application. The decision on accepting or rejecting the loan was made by Manufacturers at its home office in Toronto, Canada. The notes and deeds of trust were executed in Maryland and the deeds of trust recorded there. The funds were received by the borrower in Maryland.

However, during the time this loan, which was the first loan application Smithy had ever submitted to Manufacturers, was being negotiated, Smithy was also negotiating with Manufacturers to become its regular mortgage loan correspondent in the District of Columbia. This permanent relationship was established by an agreement dated 18 August 1960, just prior to the first loan and deed of trust of 30 August 1960.

On 5 March 1963 Parkwood purchased the property covered by the deeds of trust from Pend-Maple, Inc., taking the property subject to the deeds of trust but not assuming the notes.

The Referee and the District Court overruled the objection of the Trustee and allowed the secured claim on the same three grounds relied upon to support the claim of Equitable, and in addition held that Maryland rather than District of Columbia law was applicable to the transactions. We think that on the latter ground the District Court and the Referee were correct, and that Manufacturers' claim should be allowed as a secured claim.

B. Applicability of Maryland law.

The Trustee argues strenuously that Manufacturers was in fact engaged in the lending business in the District of Columbia by virtue of its relationship with Smithy, formally established twelve days before this particular loan was actually executed. The Trustee points to the regulations which define engaging in the regulated business of lending money in the District of Columbia²⁵ and asserts that what is regulated here is an activity in the District of Columbia, and that all the contacts with Maryland which we have listed above are immaterial when viewed in that light. We think the regulations prove that District of Columbia law could apply to the activities of Manufacturers in making loans, or indeed in making this loan, but the regulations and the statute (Sec. 26-601) under which they were made do not necessarily compel the conclusion that District of Columbia law does or should apply here.

The Trustee asserts that subsequent to the 18 August 1960 agreement, Manufacturers was held out by H. G. Smithy Company as making loans in the District, and the Trustee points to Smithy Company's activities in servicing the loans made through Smithy, including this particular one. However, all of these activities of Smithy in servicing these two particular loans occurred after the loans were made, and could not affect the validity of the loans and the deed of trust at the time they were made. If there had been a course of conduct by Smithy in holding itself out as the representative of Manufacturers and in doing the job of servicing the loans for Manufacturers in the District of Columbia prior to the two loans in question, the question of validity might have to be treated differently, but subsequent activities could not invalidate a note and deed of trust which were valid under Maryland law when made.

We think there are several grounds on which it can be said that Maryland law applies to the Manufacturers' loans. Generally, the validity of conveyances of real property, and of mortgages and deeds of trust, is determined by the law of the situs of the property. Usually the cases in which the question of the validity of conveyances of real property has arisen have not involved issues such as we have here of the effort of another jurisdiction to regulate a lending activity, but where real estate is concerned, as a general principle, we look to the jurisdiction in which the property is located for the law which governs the security in such transactions.

All of the documents involved were executed in Maryland. The loan application, the note and deed of trust were executed in Montgomery County, Maryland; the deed of trust was recorded in that County; and the funds were received by the borrower Maryland corporation in Maryland. The law of Maryland, the place where the contracts were made, should govern "matters bearing upon the execution, interpretation, and validity of the contract."²⁶

Here we have a real estate transaction, involving a note, a security instrument, and a sizable sum of money, challenged as to its validity because of a moneylending regulatory statute in the District of Columbia, where some of the activities in connection with the loan unquestionably took place. At best, the Trustee can create a conflict between Maryland and District of Columbia law and a choice as to which might govern; where there is a choice of jurisdictions, the preferable course is to select the law of the jurisdiction which would sustain the transaction, and here this is Maryland. This rule contributes to the certainty of commercial transactions, one of the prime objects of all commercial law.²⁷

We think, however, that no one point is conclusive on Maryland law applying, neither the situs of the property, the execution of all the documents in Maryland, nor the fact that Maryland law would sustain the transaction and District of Columbia law invalidate it; we must therefore apply the principles, and weigh and balance the two jurisdictions' contacts with the transaction in the manner set forth in the Restatement of the Law (Second), "Conflict of Laws," Sections 6 and 188.²⁸ In accordance with these principles, weighing the factors that point respectively to Maryland or to the District of Columbia as the source of law governing the transaction, we think that, on balance, the most weighty factors favor Maryland law.

We do not think the Trustee's reliance on Indian Lake Estates, Inc. v. Ten Individual Defendants, 121 U.S.App.D.C. 305, 350 F.2d 435 (1965), and Horning v. District of Columbia, 254 U.S. 135, 41 S.Ct. 53, 65 L.Ed. 185 (1920), is well placed.

In Indian Lake Estates, while the property was in Florida, this court did not reach or discuss the applicability of Sec. 26-601 to such loans made outside the District and secured on real property elsewhere. The case arose on the pleadings, and the holding of the court simply was that the complaint, reciting a loan contract entered into in the District of Columbia under such circumstances as to bring into play the D.C. Loan Shark Law, stated a cause of action.

Horning was a classic example of a transparent sham to circumvent the law. Horning was a pawnbroker who took his District of Columbia clients across a bridge into Virginia to execute the relevant documents, and then returned to his business of lending money on security in the District. The purpose of the Loan Shark Act has been said to be the protection of the residents of Washington from excessive interest, and Horning clearly was attempting to evade that purpose. In the case at bar we have no fraudulent or evasive purpose; everything done appears as a natural part of a business transaction without thought to evade the District of Columbia or any other law.

The Trustee makes no contention that the law of Maryland, if applied, would invalidate this transaction, and it is clear that Maryland law would not. While Article 58A of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 edition) is primarily a usury statute, the Maryland law is somewhat similar to D.C.Code 26-601 et seq., but it is clearly limited to loans of $300.00 or less. This limitation has been recognized by the highest court in Maryland.²⁹ This transaction, involving over one half million dollars, is therefore not invalidated by any Maryland law called to our attention by any party.

Accordingly, we sustain the District Court on this ground in its allowing the secured claim of Manufacturers Life Insurance Company.

VI. The Claim of the Hartford Life Insurance Company

A. Pertinent facts.

On 28 November 1960 Suburban Motors, Inc., borrowed $100,000.00 from Walker & Dunlop, Inc., a District of Columbia real estate broker-mortgage banker with its principal office in the District. A note at 6 1/2% and deed of trust on real estate in Maryland were executed. On 19 January 1961 Walker & Dunlop transferred the note and deed of trust to Hartford. On 2 March 1962 Suburban sold the real estate to Adams, which took the property subject to the deed of trust but did not assume the note.

The loan was made by Walker & Dunlop from its principal office in the District for itself and on its own account. As of 28 November 1960 Walker & Dunlop were not licensed to engage in the business of lending money under Sec. 26-601. However, under Sec. 26-610 real estate brokers are included in the category of businesses exempt from the requirement of a license under Sec. 26-601. It is undenied that Walker & Dunlop was at all relevant times a real estate broker, and it also appears it was in the business of mortgage banking.

The Trustee contended that since it was unquestioned that Walker & Dunlop made the loan with its own money and for its own account, Walker & Dunlop was acting as a mortgage banker and therefore was not exempt from the licensing requirement of Sec. 26-601. The Trustee argued that a real estate broker, as a matter of general law and understanding, is one who acts for another with respect to real estate in making or negotiating a loan or otherwise, and that the phraseology of the District of Columbia statute Sec. 26-610 was intended only to exempt a person or company acting for another in making or negotiating a loan. The District Court found that under Sec. 26-610 anyone who makes a loan for himself, secured by real estate, falls within the exemption of a real estate broker, which position Hartford argues here.

Hartford also argues that irrespective of whether the loan was originally exempt under Sec. 26-610 as made in a real estate broker's business, it took as a holder in due course and thus its security is valid and cannot be set aside. This the District Court did not find.

B. The exemption under Sec. 26-610.

Hartford argues that an integral part of the real estate brokerage business includes not only negotiation of loans on behalf of other investors, but also the placing of loans on behalf of the brokers themselves. This may be true, but this part of the real estate brokerage business is more properly described as the mortgage banking business.

Semantics aside, the District of Columbia statute involved does not say that making loans on real estate is exempt. When originally passed, the exemption section 26-610, listed the exempted organizations "as defined in the Act of Congress of July First, 1902, 32 Stat. 621." Paragraph 15 of that Act defines real estate brokers as follows:

. . . That real estate brokers or agents shall pay a license tax of $50.00 per annum. Every person who sells, or offers for sale, as the agent for others, real estate, wherever located, including mining and quarry property, or who makes or negotiates loans thereon, or who rents houses, buildings, stores, or real estate, or who collects rent for others, shall be regarded as a real estate broker or agent.³⁰

The key questions revolve around the italicized words.

First, if, as Hartford contends, the words "makes or negotiates loans thereon" mean that the making or negotiating of the loan may be for the broker's own account, then anyone "who makes or negotiates loans thereon . . . shall be regarded as a real estate broker or agent." This simply cannot have been the legislative intention, to define as a real estate broker or agent anyone who is in the business of making or negotiating loans on real estate for his own account.

Second, in the interpretation of this clause, the words "as the agent for others," although dreadfully misplaced, must modify all of the activities described in this one sentence, i. e., "who sells or offers for sale," "who rents houses, buildings, stores, or real estate, or who collects rent for others." The concept of "agent for others" must apply to all of these activities, which, if done for others, do constitute proper functions of a real estate broker or agent.

Third, if "as the agent for others" does not refer also to "who makes or negotiates thereon," then we have the peculiar situation that the person who is a real estate broker or agent is one who makes or negotiates loans for his own account, but there is no clause in this entire sentence referring to the broker or agent making or negotiating loans as the agent for others. The interpretation urged by Hartford, i. e., that "agent for others" only refers to the part preceding "who makes or negotiates," would leave out completely the authority of the broker or agent to make or negotiate loans for others, which is the whole sense of the business.

So we conclude that the loan as originally made by Walker & Dunlop did not fall within the exemption of Sec. 26-610, and therefore the loan was subject to the licensing requirement of Sec. 26-601. In contrast to the position of the insurance companies, real estate brokerage firms have always been exempt from licensing under Sec. 26-610. Mortgage banking, however, has never been exempt from Sec. 26-601. Thus the loan in question, as it was a result of mortgage banking activity, was not exempt from Sec. 26-601, and the security instrument executed in connection with the loan is void under Sec. 26-601, unless the claim of Hartford as a holder in due course can prevail.

C. Hartford as a holder in due course.

There is much argument in the briefs as to whether the effect of Sec. 26-601 is to make security instruments given in violation thereof truly "void" or merely "voidable," allowing defenses to be asserted, and, even if the security instruments are truly void, whether a holder in due course can still prevail. We need decide none of these questions here, because we conclude that Hartford was not found to be a holder in due course and on the facts could not have been so found.

The question whether a holder is a holder in due course is a question of fact.³¹ The burden was on Hartford to prove to the fact-finder, the Referee, and the District Court, that it was a holder in due course.³² The District of Columbia Uniform Commercial Code provides:

After it is shown that a defense exists a person claiming the rights of a holder in due course has the burden of establishing that he * * * is in all respects a holder in due course.³³

Hartford argued to the Referee that its rights under the deed of trust are not affected by any invalidity stemming from Sec. 26-601 because Hartford is a holder in due course, but the Referee as the original finder of fact made no such finding, and the District Court made no fact-finding or conclusions of law of its own, merely adopting those of the Referee.

Nor do we see that the Referee or District Court could have made any such finding of fact. When Hartford purchased the note and deed of trust, it appeared on the face of the instrument that the loan was made at over six percent. On the face of the note the lender of the note was described as Walker & Dunlop, Inc., of Washington, D.C., and Hartford knew from its negotiations with Walker & Dunlop in making the loan that this company was engaged in making such loans in the District of Columbia. The loan is also shown on the face to be payable in Washington, D.C. Thus, from all of the uncontradicted facts, Hartford knew that it was purchasing a note and accompanying security covered at its inception by the laws of the District of Columbia, and Hartford should have been on notice that by virtue of Sec. 26-601 a defense existed against the note. Since to have been a holder in due course Hartford would have had to have taken the note with "no notice of any infirmity in the instrument or defect in the title of the person negotiating it,"³⁴ Hartford could not have qualified for holder in due course status.

Hartford asserts that it did not know that the loan was illegal under Sec. 26-601 and that in the exercise of reasonable diligence it could not be expected to know. At the time of the note's execution (1960) and at the time of its negotiation to Hartford (1961) the governing law for commercial paper in the District of Columbia was the Negotiable Instruments Law.³⁵ Hartford claims that it became a holder in due course because at that time it met all the required conditions, including that "at the time when the note was negotiated to it, Hartford had no notice of any infirmity in the instrument or defect in the title of Walker & Dunlop."

But the burden of establishing this was on Hartford; it could hardly plead ignorance of the law as an excuse, a holder cannot convert himself into a holder in due course by being ignorant of the law. While the question of whether Walker & Dunlop, Inc., as a real estate broker was entitled to an exemption under Sec. 26-610 may not be perfectly plain on its face, it was perfectly plain that Walker & Dunlop had acted for itself in making the loan originally, and the whole tenor of the real estate broker's exemption under Sec. 26-610 is to take the real estate broker out from the licensing requirement of Sec. 26-601 simply because the real estate broker is an agent and does not act for himself. Where persons are in the business of making loans on real estate themselves, Sec. 26-601 requires them to be licensed, unless they are specifically exempt under Sec. 26-610. We have held that transactions and obligations in violation of Sec. 26-601 are "void,"³⁶ and therefore the maker of the note or the security instrument, or his assignee, would have had a defense. This should have been apparent from the face of the note and the governing District of Columbia law, and Hartford should have been on notice of this defense, and on notice that it was not a holder in due course. It is possible to argue, as the Trustee strenuously has, that the obligations incurred in violation of Sec. 26-601 are void and of no effect even in the hands of a holder in due course. We have not passed upon this question, as it is not necessary under the disposition we now make. But all of this was the law when Hartford purchased the note and accompanying deed of trust. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that, although Hartford sought it, neither the Referee nor the District Court made a finding of fact that it was a holder in due course. Nor do we so find here.

D. Applicability of District of Columbia Law

Unlike our conclusion in regard to the situation of Manufacturers, we find Hartford's argument that the transaction was not subject to District of Columbia law to be unpersuasive, and we therefore decline to overrule the referee's position that the Hartford transaction is governed by D.C. law.³⁷

In the case of Manufacturers, it did not maintain a Washington office for the purpose of making real estate loans, and "the decision to make the loan was made by Manufacturers at its home office in Toronto, Canada. Manufacturers had no agent in the District of Columbia, at that time, authorized or empowered to make such loans."³⁸ The referee also specifically found "The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company made no loans in the District of Columbia between January 1, 1959 and May 7, 1968 at a rate of interest in excess of 6% per annum."³⁹

No such specific finding as the latter was made in the case of Hartford. In further contrast, the referee referred to Walker & Dunlop, Inc., who unquestionably made the Hartford loan originally, as "a corporation with its principal office in the District of Columbia."⁴⁰ There is little doubt that D.C. law is designed to regulate this kind of lender, and the weight of whatever countervailing factors which may exist⁴¹ is not sufficient to upset the premise of the referee and District Court that District of Columbia law applied to the Hartford (Walker & Dunlop) loan.

We therefore conclude that Hartford not having established itself as a holder in due course, Walker & Dunlop's actions not being exempt under Sec. 26-610, and the applicable law being that of the District of Columbia, that the loan and accompanying deed of trust are therefore subject to Sec. 26-601. We hold that the objection of the Trustee to the allowance of the claim of Hartford as a secured claim on the basis of the deed of trust was valid, the action of the District Court in denying the objection was erroneous, and we therefore remand to the District Court for the entry of the proper order.

VAN PELT, Senior District Judge (concurring in part and dissenting in part):

It is with reluctance that I conclude that I cannot concur entirely in the well-written opinion of Judge Wilkey, concurred in by Chief Judge Bazelon.

A lengthy dissent is unnecessary. Suffice it to say that I am not in disagreement with the affirmance of the Manufacturers' claim or with the finding that the Trustee has standing to attack the validity of the deeds of trust. I have also concluded, with some reluctance, to approve the return of the Equitable claim to the District Court for a further hearing in which all defenses can be thoroughly developed. However, as to Hartford, for the reasons hereafter stated, I would affirm.

It should be noted, although discussed by Judge Wilkey, that all the real estate covered by the deeds of trust which are before us is located in the State of Maryland, not the District of Columbia. It is conceded that the indebtedness secured by each of these deeds of trust, if measured by Maryland law, is valid.

The statute in question is a licensing statute. It is not a usury statute as such. See Indian Lakes Estates, Inc. v. Ten Individual Defendants, 121 U.S.App. D.C. 305, 311, 350 F.2d 435, 441 (1965). The majority opinion recognizes that this case does not involve a violation of the District of Columbia usury law "but rather concerns the loan shark statute which imposes a disability on certain lenders, i. e., non-exempt, unlicensed lenders, to charge interest in excess of 6%."

I do not believe it was the intention of the Loan Shark Act to cover transactions of this nature. Thus, if they are in violation of the District of Columbia law, and admittedly are valid under Maryland law, I would, in the absence of an intent to avoid or violate the District Loan Shark Act, consider that in applying the more usual factors. To apply the Loan Shark Act results in a windfall to the Bankrupt, a situation which should be frowned upon almost to the same extent as loan shark operations. This too becomes a background factor.

I approve the statement of factors, set forth in that portion of the majority opinion dealing with Manufacturers, which are to be considered in determining whether to apply the law of Maryland or of the District of Columbia, and I will not repeat them. However, as I weigh and balance the contacts, I conclude, as with the Manufacturers claim, that application of Maryland law should also be favored in deciding the Hartford claim.

The Hartford contacts in Maryland are nearly the same as for Manufacturers. The property is in Maryland; the maker of the note and deed of trust was a Maryland corporation; the papers were executed in Maryland; the money was paid in Maryland. Thus, I conclude it became a Maryland contract to which Maryland law should be applied.

In addition, I disagree with my brethren that Walker & Dunlop are not exempt from the Loan Shark Act. There is no claim here that Walker & Dunlop were loan sharks, as such, or persons of the type which the congressional history shows the law was intended to regulate and license.

It is difficult to trace the history of the Loan Shark Act because codifiers of the District of Columbia code are said to have lost the original. It is clear, however, that "real estate brokers" was a term which was defined in the original Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. 32 Stat. 621. Its definition of real estate brokers is set forth in the majority opinion. I will not repeat it here. I agree that it is a poorly worded statute if it is to be read as the majority opinion would read it. However, I do not read the words "as the agent for others" in paragraph 15 of the Act of July 1, 1902, as a limitation upon the subsequent words "who makes or negotiates loans thereon." As I read the Act and its history, it was intended to exempt real estate brokers from the Loan Shark Act, including not only persons who sell real estate or offer it for sale as the agent for others, but also persons who make or negotiate loans on real estate or who "rent houses, buildings, stores, or real estate or who collect rent for others. . . ." Thus, I conclude that Walker & Dunlop were exempt from the licensing requirement of Section 26-601.

I would affirm both as to Hartford and Manufacturers.

On Petitions for Rehearing*

WILKEY, Circuit Judge:

After consideration of the points raised by the petitions for rehearing, the court denies the petitions, affirms the original decision and opinion, and adds the following supplement to its original opinion.

We must remember that it is not "a constitution we are expounding." The questions here involve a regulatory licensing statute1 to which there are eight specific exemptions,2 carved out by Congress on three occasions.3 As pointed out in our original opinion (p. 167), the Congress has the power at any time to define further exemptions to the licensing requirement. While courts sometimes are called upon and do fill in interstitially gaps in the coverage of statutes enacted by the legislature, in this case it would be an act of direct legislation to add an exemption to the regulatory licensing requirement. The matter of appropriate and permissible interest rates, for specific persons and purposes, is an area of delicate economic and social policy peculiarly appropriate for judgment by the Congress.

We have been urged to make our decision in this case prospective only; in other words, not to invalidate any existing loans under Sec. 601, but to say that in the future Sec. 601 will be construed as applying to loans originated by mortgage bankers, unless Congress sees fit to add other exemptions.4

In support of such plea, the Mortgage Bankers Brief cites three situations in which decisions have been made prospective only. The Supreme Court in Linkletter v. Walker5 did limit its constitutional interpretation to prospective application only, and in so doing cited previous precedents dealing "with the invalidity of statutes or the effect of a decision overturning long-established common-law rules," where the interest of justice called for making the rule prospective because retrospective operation would impose significant hardships.6 In contrast with the three situations of constitutional interpretation, the changing of a common-law rule, or holding invalid a statute, we have here a situation in which this court has upheld the validity of a statute, and in our own judgment conformed this opinion to three clear previous decisions of this court.7 We are in effect saying that this statute is valid, and has had this meaning since it was enacted. There are no decisions of ours to the contrary, and we overrule none here.

The impact of a decision applied prospectively only is impossible for this court to gauge. Obviously there are and have been people whom Congress wanted to protect by this Loan Shark Law in 1913. Applying our interpretation only prospectively would deprive these people of the protection Congress tried to give them. It is impossible for this court to determine who should now be protected and to frame an opinion to do so. Only Congress can do this by framing its legislation to cover the persons and entities whom it thinks deserving of protection, making its own economic and social policy judgments. This is not the function of a court.

II. Construction of Secs. 1, 5, and 10 of the Loan Shark Act of 1913

A. The plain words of the statute.

1. It seems fair to say that the 1913 Act was primarily intended to regulate and limit the business of making small loans for security, but it is equally fair to say that this was not the sole purpose of the Act. To say that it is the sole purpose of the Act, this court would have to ignore Sec. 601 and Sec. 610, and overrule the well reasoned and long recognized cases of Hartman v. Lubar (1942),8 Royall v. Yudelevit (1959),9 and Indian Lake Estates, Inc. v. Ten Individual Defendants (1965).10 On the other hand, if the petitioners on rehearing are to prevail on their theory on this point, they must establish that the 1913 Act was solely intended to regulate loans of $200 or less; and if they fail to establish this, if the Act was to do other things as well, then petitioners cannot prevail.

The very title of the 1913 Act, "To regulate the business of loaning money on security of any kind by persons, firms, and corporations other than national banks, licensed bankers, trust companies, savings banks, building and loan associations, and real-estate brokers in the District of Columbia,"11 indicates that this is not concerned exclusively with small loans, nor is it an amendment or exception to the usury statute.12 The usury statute already had an exemption for pawnbrokers. If it had been desired to expand this to exempt all secured loans of $200 or less, the simple action would have been to redefine the small lenders so exempt or to add another exemption of a character like the pawnbrokers to the usury law. But Congress did not do this. It enacted an entirely new and different law, whose three sections-601, 605, and 610-when construed together do provide a rational scheme of regulation, licensing, and exemption from regulation of all loans.

26 D.C.Code Sec. 601 provides:

It shall be unlawful and illegal to engage in the District of Columbia in the business of loaning money upon which a rate of interest greater than six per centum per annum is charged on any security of any kind . . . without procuring license; . . .

These words are plain and unambiguous on their face. If anyone is to loan money at greater than 6%, he needs a license. The following sections tell how to go about it and what the requirements are.

Section 605 talks about those entities which have obtained a license:

No such person . . . or corporation shall charge or receive a greater rate of interest upon any loan made by him or it than one per centum per month on the actual amount of the loan . . . . No such loan greater than two hundred dollars shall be made to any one person: Provided, That any person . . . receiving a greater rate of interest than that fixed in this chapter, shall forfeit all interest . . and in addition thereto shall forfeit to the borrower a sum of money . . . equal to one-fourth of the principal sum: . . .

This section, 605, was the main focus of the original Act. It seems clear that the motivating force was to set up licensing and regulation of lenders of small sums upon security which would not only include pawnbrokers (already regulated by an 1889 law), but all other persons not classified as pawnbrokers who might be engaged in the small loan business. But in so doing, Congress found it necessary to make other general prohibitions and exemptions found in Secs. 601 and 610. As shown by the chronology of the decided cases, these portions of the statute did not assume prominence in litigation until larger secured loans at more than 6% interest began to be made, as in Von Rosen v. Dean (1930).13 Where the effort by the borrower was to get these loans within the coverage of Sec. 605, it failed, as in Von Rosen and Zirkle v. Daly (1931),14 because the coverage of Sec. 605 was obviously directed at loans of $200 or less on which interest of 12% was permitted.

Section 610 provides an out for some of the institutional lenders. As written as Section 10 of the 1913 Act, the basis for D.C.Code Sec. 26-610, it provides:

That nothing contained in this Act shall be held to apply to the legitimate business of national banks, licensed bankers, trust companies, savings banks, building and loan associations, or real-estate brokers, as defined in the Act of Congress of July first, nineteen hundred and two.

The language in regard to small business investment companies and life insurance companies was added in 1960 and 1963, respectively, as discussed later.

Whether many members of Congress thought about it or not, by the Loan Shark Act of 1913 they had enacted a statute, whose motivating force may well have been exemplified in Sec. 605, but which actually had this effect: all lenders "in the business of loaning money" "on any security of any kind" could not charge more than 6% per annum unless (1) the lender secured a license under Sec. 605 (in which case it could make individual loans not greater than $200 and charge up to 12% thereon), or (2) it was specifically exempt under Sec. 610. The type institutions exempted are the larger institutional lenders, plus real estate brokers as defined.

2. Where the petitioners' argument that the Loan Shark Act has no application to loans in excess of $200 breaks down on the very face of the statute itself is Sec. 610, the list of exceptions to the coverage of Sec. 601. If the sole purpose-as distinguished from what was perhaps the primary purpose-of the Loan Shark Act of 1913 was to cover loans of $200 or less, if the flat prohibition of loans charging interest over 6% in Sec. 601 means nothing, then there would have been no reason to list the exceptions in Sec. 610. If the Loan Shark Act only regulated loans of $200 or less, and permitted 12% interest for them, then it would never have been necessary to write an exemption section.

Petitioners are forced to the extreme position of arguing that the entire Act was concerned only with loans of $200 or less.15 This means that it was necessary to exempt "national banks, licensed bankers, trust companies, savings banks, building and loan associations" only for their secured loans of $200 or less, for which such institutions could charge more than 6%. And further, that if the loans were more than $200, then the 1913 Act did not apply at all to anyone. All of this is said to be derived from the intent of Congress.16 Reverting to the plain language of the statute, where statutory construction is supposed to start, we find no such intent and, in fact, petitioners do not point to any language in any section manifesting such intent.

Nor do petitioners even attempt to explain away the listing of "real estate brokers, as defined" after the enumeration of the large institutional lenders. Was it necessary to list them as exempt from the coverage of the Act if the entire Act dealt only with loans of $200 or less? The very inclusion of real estate brokers or agents in the list of exemptions (whether we consider them acting as agents or for their own account, which is a different question discussed under III below) shows that large loans involving real estate as security and in amounts greater than $200 were contemplated as being covered by the Act from the beginning.

All of this was settled by Hartman v. Lubar (1942),17 the first time the issue was squarely presented under Sec. 601. Hartman did not overrule any of the earlier cases; there was no need to, because they were each and every one concerned with the applicability or nonapplicability of Sec. 605. On this basis Von Rosen18 and by implication Zirkle19 were distinguished in Hartman to show which sections applied to which type loans by which entities.20 Royall v. Yudelevit21 and Indian Lake Estates, Inc. v. Ten Individual Defendants22 followed Hartman and applied the rule to real estate loans.

3. Therefore, the idea that mortgage bankers and insurance companies in the District of Columbia could ever blithely assume-at least after Hartman (1942)-that the Loan Shark Act of 1913 did not apply to loans over $200 is beyond belief. In fact, of late all counsel had to do to see the fallacy of this view was to look at the very first case cited under Title 26, D.C.Code, Sec. 601:

"Notes to Decisions" "Amount as determining applicability

This section making it unlawful to engage in business of loaning money upon which a rate of interest greater than 6% per annum is charged on any security of any kind without procuring a license has application to a loan larger than $200. Hartman v. Lubar (citation, certiorari denied, rehearing denied)."23

Nor did the companies so assume. The statement in the Equitable petition for rehearing, "From 1913 until 1962 the life insurance companies in the District of Columbia so construed the Loan Shark Act as applying exclusively to loans of less than $200 to any one borrower,"24 is directly refuted by the position of the Equitable itself, stated in support of the legislation which resulted in 1963 in the insurance companies being added to the list of exemptions under Sec. 610. On 27 April 1962 the Equitable Life Insurance Society of the United States, over the signature of Bernard K. Sprung, Counsel-Legislation, wrote Representative Abernathy, Chairman, Subcommittee No. 2, Committee on the District of Columbia, recording ". . . its support of this bill which would amend Section 26-610 of the District of Columbia Code to include life insurance companies as institutional lenders exempt . . . ." The Equitable pointed out that ". . . Section 26-610 now specifically exempts [naming those listed in the statute]" and "Life insurance companies are certainly of equal calibre to those listed . . . ." The Equitable stated the reason for the needed legislation: ". . . because of the question as to whether insurance companies were governed by this section or by the general Usury Statute, Section 28-3303 of the District of Columbia Code, many companies have taken the conservative position that they would not entertain requests for loans in the District which in normal circumstances will justify at a given time an interest rate in excess of 6%." The letter concluded, "Accordingly, we feel that life insurance companies should be included among the exempted investors."25 (Emphasis supplied.) This certainly reveals an awareness of the meaning of the Loan Shark Law as already construed by our court, and that meaning is not that it applies "exclusively to loans of less than $200."

Among sophisticated large lenders, such as the insurance companies and mortgage bankers, the true state of legal opinion on the question of what size loans were covered by the 1913 Loan Shark Act was well put in this case by petitioner Hartford in its original brief (p. 24), "Of course, Hartford realizes that there is no set amount in Sec. 601, as in other sections of the Act, and the court must use its discretion in each case to determine if the specific loan is of the character intended to be restricted."

As shown by the hearings before Subcommittee 2 of the House District of Columbia Committee in 1962,26 the insurance companies had for some time been advised by their counsel that they could not lend at a rate above 6%,27 they were not lending,28 the money was not coming into the District, therefore not only the insurance companies but other financial institutions in 1962 and 1963 sought from the Congress an exemption for the insurance companies taking them out of the coverage of Sec. 601-which was recognized as covering all loans-and listing insurance companies for the first time in Sec. 610.

B. Legislative history of the 1913 Loan Shark Act and related statutes.

1. From the plain words of the 1913 Act we derive no inference whatsoever that it was designed to cover solely loans of $200 or less. The complete absence of language so stating should be dispositive. But petitioners vehemently argue that such a limited purpose is apparent from the legislative history, without being specific as to just where it is made manifest. We do not discern such intent in the legislative history.

Quite the contrary. Congress was aware that loans on real estate would be covered under the Act.29 This was deliberate, as Congress was aware that second or third mortgages would command a high rate of interest, and they were seeking to regulate this. Unless the real estate transaction in question was conducted by one of the specifically exempted organizations, the transaction would fall under the Act.

*******

* * *

Most significantly, after the dialogue referred to above, Congress specifically rejected an exemption for all real estate security transactions. It thus definitely wanted to allow some lending institutions exemptions, and to deny exemptions to all others. Mr. McLaughlin proposed an amendment which would have provided, "Nothing contained in this Act shall be held to apply to contracts or loans upon or relating to real estate . . . ."30 In support of his amendment Mr. McLaughlin argued that "after going through the bill, it must be evident to all that it does not forbid exorbitant rates of interest upon loans upon real estate."31 This amendment was rejected; thus it is undeniable that Congress was aware that real estate transactions indeed would be under the Act, and that if the rate charged were in excess of the 6% ceiling, then they were just as "unlawful and illegal" as any other loans in violation of Sec. 601.

Mr. Johnson of Kentucky submitted the Conference Committee Report, which among other things rejected a Senate proposal "to permit individuals to loan their own money . . . without being required to obtain a license for engaging in such business," and also rejected a Senate proposal to delete the entire exemption section 10.32 Thus the exemptions were carefully considered up to the very last in conference, were determined to be necessary, and among the exemptions proposed but not included was an exemption to permit the loaning by individuals of their own money without obtaining a license.

In 1911, when this Loan Shark Act first began to be seriously considered, the only law which regulated lending money in the District was a general usury statute limiting interest to 6% per annum. However, there was an exception in this general statute for pawnbrokers, who were allowed to charge 3% per month.

If the intent of Congress had only been to permit small loans of $200 or less to be made at 12%, in other words to create another exception to the usury law, the obvious simple way to do it would have been to do it for small lenders exactly the way Congress had done it for pawnbrokers, that is, to put an exception in the usury statute. But to take care of small lenders of $200 or less was not the total purpose of Congress in the 1913 Act, hence a separate and more comprehensive law than a mere exception to the usury statute was thought necessary, and was enacted. To construe it as only limited to small loans would be to frustrate part of what Congress set out to do.

2. The Usury Law was amended in 1920 in this fashion:

"By striking out Section 1180 and inserting in lieu thereof:

'Section 1180. What Is Usury.-If any person or corporation shall contract in the District, verbally, to pay a greater rate of interest than 6 per centum per annum, or shall contract, in writing, to pay a greater rate than 8% per annum, the creditor shall forfeit the whole of the interest so contracted to be received: Provided, That nothing in this chapter contained shall be held to repeal or affect the Act of Congress approved February 4, 1913, relating to the business of loaning money on security.' (Thirty-seventh Statutes, part 1, page 657.)"33

This emphasizes that Congress had well in mind the differences in purpose and effect of the Loan Shark Law and the Usury Law, that the 1913 Act has a life of its own, and that our court was cognizant of this in Indian Lake Estates when it said, "We now consider a quite different problem,"34 as it turned from the Usury Law to the licensing statute.

Arguments have been made that the 1920 Usury Law Amendment either (1) was passed without Congress being aware of the discrepancy between the rate of 8% in the Usury Law and 6% in the Loan Shark Act; or (2) the 1920 Usury Amendment "impliedly amended the Loan Shark Act," and that by implication the 6% rate limit of the Loan Shark Act became 8%; or (3) no penalties should be applied in the case at bar because the rate of all these contracts does not exceed the 8% usury rate limit. In light of the plain language on the face of the statute in the 1920 Usury Act Amendment, showing the awareness of Congress as to the existence of two different regulatory schemes, we consider such arguments simply unsupportable.

C. Older cases now relied on by Hartford, Equitable, and Mortgage Bankers Association to establish that the District of Columbia Loan Shark Act has no application to loans in excess of $200

Petitioners Hartford, Equitable, and amicus curiae Mortgage Bankers Association now urge that Von Rosen v. Dean (1930)35 and four other of our decisions36 "hold expressly that the Loan Shark Act applies solely to small loans not in excess of $200 to any one borrower."37

This is astounding. In the original briefs Von Rosen was not cited by any party before this court. This could not have been oversight; all five cases were discussed by the referee in his chronological review of every case decided under any part of the Loan Shark Act. Originally not one of the five was cited by Equitable; Hartford cited three for other minor points, but did not cite Von Rosen for anything. Furthermore, Hartford indicated it "relied principally" on Hartman,38 Royall,39 and Indian Lake Estates,40 which petitioner Hartford now implies we must overrule41 in order to reach the result desired by the mortgage bankers and Hartford. Of equal significance, the very comprehensive brief for the trustee appellant, which anticipatorily discussed cases to be relied on by the petitioner lenders, never mentioned either of the five older cases.

We can only conclude that in the original dispassionate analysis of all counsel for both sides, Von Rosen and the other four cases were considered to have no applicability to the case at bar.

Nor do they. Von Rosen v. Dean (1930),⁴² the case now principally relied on, was the first case involving a sizable amount of money, a loan of $177,500 on real estate security. The plaintiff-debtor sought to recover usurious interest under Secs. 1180 and 1181 of the Code, and also to invoke the provision of Sec. 605 of the Loan Shark Act to recover one-fourth of the principal involved. We stated, after discussing the principal issues under the usury sections, that "the Loan Shark Law can have no application to a case of this sort, since the act was intended to apply only to persons making small loans upon personal security, as shown by the fact that the amount of such loans is limited by the act to $200."⁴³ The $200 limitation, of course, appears only in Sec. 605 of the Act, not in Sec. 601, as was specifically recognized by petitioner Hartford in its original brief here.⁴⁴ We went on to point out in Von Rosen that if the Act applied in the fashion urged, then a clever borrower might pay a "small bonus for an extension in the payment of interest" and "might recover one-fourth of the great principal sum as is undertaken to be done in this case. Such cases are plainly covered by the sections of the Code already referred to."⁴⁵

It is from this language that petitioners now make their argument. But this ignores the obvious fact that the citation to the limitation of the loan and to the remedy of recovering one-fourth of the principal sum is a reference to Sec. 605 of the Act, not Sec. 601. There is no discussion of the coverage of Sec. 601 and Sec. 610 except by whatever may be implied in the portion quoted.⁴⁶ In Hartman v. Lubar (1942) we clearly distinguished Von Rosen on its facts, and by the reference of the court to Sec. 605 of the Act and the limitations and remedies involved therein.

Zirkle v. Daly (1931)⁴⁷ involved a lawyer resident in New York occasionally making investments in second trust notes secured upon real estate located in the District of Columbia. The debtor invoked Sec. 605 of the Loan Shark Act to claim forfeiture of one-fourth of the principal as well as all the interest. The court relied principally upon Von Rosen, reciting the limitations of principal of $200 and the right of recovery of one-fourth of the principal, which are in Sec. 605 only. It is significant that the then Justice (later Chief Justice) Groner participated in Zirkle (1931), because he also participated in Hartman (1942) which distinguished Von Rosen (1930)⁴⁸ and by implication Zirkle. Chief Justice Groner apparently found no inconsistency between ruling out in Zirkle the application of Sec. 605 and the remedies therein to a loan in excess of $200, and his later holding in Hartman that Sec. 601 did apply to all loans unless the exceptions of Sec. 610 could be invoked.

These five earlier cases have not been overruled, and indeed there is no reason why they should be. They were all decided on different fact situations and involve a different section of the statute (Sec. 605) from the case at bar.

As long as the usury statute restricted legal interest to 6%, it is obvious that Sec. 601 and Sec. 610 would be relatively inactive sections of the statute. Thus it was that these first five cases all concerned Sec. 605 and the issues revolved around the penalties and coverage of this section, which does deal with small loans exclusively.

But once the 6% usury limit was removed (1920), and the interest rate on large real estate secured loans climbed, it was inevitable from the overall regulatory scheme analyzed above that cases involving Sec. 601 and Sec. 610 would arise. Hartman (1942) and Royall (1959) were such cases, and with the full scope of the 1913 Act writ plain and clear for all, those who could read and whose lending activities were restricted by the Act turned to Congress for the necessary relief.

D. The additional congressional exemptions of 1960 and 1963.

The small business investment companies recognized the accepted reach of Sec. 601, and quickly demonstrated how safely to avoid it. Created in 1958,⁴⁹ by 1960 the SBIC's had secured from Congress an exemption by being listed under Sec. 610. The Congress also recognized the scope of the Loan Shark Law:

Although it [Sec. 26-601 et seq.] was obviously not intended to apply to SBIC's, it does apply to them literally and constitutes an obstacle to effective operation of SBIC's in the District of Columbia.⁵⁰

The same, of course, could be said for all other lenders not specifically named in Sec. 610 as exempt. Insurance companies were the next to realize this and to seek exemption.⁵¹

On 1 May 1962 Mr. George Brady, Chairman, Legislative Committee, Mortgage Bankers Association of Metropolitan Washington, appeared before the House Committee on the District of Columbia (Subcommittee 2). Mr. Brady, representing the Mortgage Bankers Association but appearing on behalf of the insurance companies, testified:

A few years ago the General Counsel for the majority of life insurance companies, then making mortgage loans in the District, decided that, as a result of court decisions and the omission of insurance companies from those lending institutions exempted from the socalled loan shark law, they should not lend money in the District of Columbia at rates in excess of 6%⁵²