Plaintiff, an Italian-American businessman whose business operations depended on a revolving line of credit with a bank, brought suit against Defendant-bank after the bank terminated his line of credit, allegedly because of the Plaintiff's national origin. The Defendant-bank then impleaded third-party Defendants, F.B.I. agents, who had allegedly made statements to the Defendant-bank about the Plaintiff's business activities that led the Defendant-bank to terminate the Plaintiff's line of credit. After the Plaintiff succeeded in the District Court on claims premised on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, 15 U.S.C. 1691, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681, and 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1982, the F.B.I. agents filed a motion for summary judgment against the Defendant-bank's suit for contribution from them. U.S. District Court Judge David Mazzone denied the F.B.I. agents' motion for summary judgment.

The F.B.I. agents appealed the District Court's adverse ruling on official immunity, and on July 24, 1985, the First Circuit reversed the District Court and held the F.B.I. agents were immune from the suit for contribution. Ricci v. Key Bancshares of Maine, Inc., 768 F.2d 456 (1st Cir. 1985). Subsequent to the federal appellate court's ruling, on June 17, 1987, the District Court upheld the grant of punitive damages against the Defendant-lender. Ricci v. Key Bancshares of Maine, Inc., 662 F. Supp. 1132 (D. Me. 1987).

Andrew Nash - 06/02/2008


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