MAXXAM INC v. Off of Thrift Supr

*Pursuant to Local Rule 47.5, the court has determined that
this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except
under the limited circumstances set forth in Local Rule 47.5.4.
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 95-60753
MAXXAM, INC.,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION,
Department of the Treasury,
Respondent-Appellee.
Petition for Review of an Order
of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board
(88-1535-P)
December 10, 1996
Before POLITZ, Chief Judge, and WIENER and STEWART Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
In its appeal from the refusal of the Federal Home Loan Bank
Board (FHLBB) to grant a petition for review, Petitioner-Appellant
MAXXAM, Inc. asks us to (1) reverse, (2) grant its petition, and
(3) declare it to be the successful bidder, retroactively to 1988,

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for acquisition of United Savings Association of Texas (USAT).
MAXXAM asserts this bold proposition of unfathomable ramifications
—— characterized, with only the slightest hyperbole, as
“preposterous” by counsel for USAT at oral argument before this
court —— almost eight years after MAXXAM was advised in writing
that its effort to acquire USAT had fallen short of the mark and
that Hyperion Partners had been the successful bidder. Despite
urging in its written and oral arguments to this court that the
letter in question, which admittedly did not transmit a copy of the
“order” and which admittedly was not “served” as required, was not
sufficient actual knowledge to start the applicable 30-day clock
running, MAXXAM nevertheless cannot satisfy (or at least has not
satisfied) us that its filing of the instant action was not
woefully untimely or that the timing of such filing —— shortly
after the commencement of legal action by the government against
MAXXAM’s principal owner and executive —— was not too much of a
coincidence to be a coincidence. Indeed, the water that has passed
under the bridge since MAXXAM’s bid was spurned in favor of
Hyperion has been a veritable torrent, sweeping seven years of
irreversible change so far downstream that this Humpty Dumpty
cannot be put together again. Statutes have been repealed;
agencies have ceased to exist; and assets formerly held by the
target of MAXXAM’s and Hyperion’s acquisition efforts have been
divested and even made illegal.

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Our careful consideration of the record in this case, of the
helpful and elucidative briefs of counsel, and of the most able
oral arguments made to this court, convinces us beyond peradventure
that the reversal and relief sought by MAXXAM in this appeal are
unavailable and that the FHLBB committed no reversible error in
denying MAXXAM’s petition for review. The order appealed from is,
therefore, affirmed in all respects.
AFFIRMED.

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