⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Sixth Circuit returns to a dispute over Harry Calcutt the Third, a former chief executive of Northwestern Bank in Michigan. During the Great Recession, the bank's largest group of borrowers stopped making loan payments. A restructuring called the Bedrock Transaction provided funds to bring their loans current. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation found that Calcutt approved unsafe transactions and concealed the troubled relationship from the bank's board and regulators. Calcutt contests the agency's case. In 2023, the Supreme Court reversed an earlier Sixth Circuit judgment. After identifying errors in the agency's reasoning, the appeals court should have sent the case back rather than supplying its own justification for the sanctions. That was not a ruling clearing Calcutt of misconduct. The FDIC reconsidered the matter and again imposed a banking prohibition and a civil penalty of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars. Calcutt now challenges that renewed decision. The court first examines whether his constitutional objections can be considered now. A limited remand restricts what may be reopened when a case is sent back. Appellate forfeiture concerns an argument not raised in an earlier appeal. The parties dispute both the scope of the remand and the consequences of Calcutt's earlier briefing. The constitutional questions concern a federal judge under Article Three and a civil jury under the Seventh Amendment. The public-rights exception permits Congress to assign certain matters to agencies instead. Calcutt will argue that this case concerns traditional private duties that require court adjudication. The FDIC will defend its administrative process as part of protecting the federally insured banking system. There is also a dispute over proximate cause: whether the alleged misconduct is sufficiently connected to the bank's losses, rather than merely preceding them. Calcutt will question whether the agency showed the bank would have been better off without the transaction. The FDIC will defend its findings. Amy Saharia of Williams and Connolly will present Calcutt's challenge first.

Harry Calcutt III v. FDIC (No. 26-3393) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, argued October 19, 2026.