Brief Fact Summary. Robert D. Rapaport was the majority shareholder of a savings and loan association that failed. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) ordered Rapaport to pay approximately $1.5 million pursuant to his agreement to personally maintain a balance in the institution at or above the minimum required by regulation.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. Deference is not owed to an agency’s interpretation of a statute that it shares with other agencies.
Issue. Could OTS enforce judgment against Rapaport in an administrative proceeding, pursuant to Section:1818?
Held. No. The Court granted Rapaport’s petition for review and set aside OTS’s order. Because OTS did not show Rapaport was unjustly enriched, it could not enforce the agreement against him in an administrative (as opposed to a judicial) proceeding. Dissent. None. Concurrence. When the court made the assertion in Wachtel that it need not accord deference to an agency interpretation of a shared statute, it relied on distinguishable case law. It appears to facile to conclude that deference is inappropriate simply because more than one agency is involved-the question more likely depends on the nature of the statute and how Congress has decided it should be administered.
Of course, practical agency expertise is one of the principal justifications behind Chevron deference.
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