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.
Of course, practical agency expertise is one of the principal justifications behind Chevron deference.
View Full Point of LawIssue. 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.
Discussion. The agency claimed that the court should afford its interpretation of Section:1818 deference under Chevron. The Court said it already decided that issue in Wachtel, and it owed no such deference because OTC shared administration of the statute with at least three other agencies.