O'Melveny & Myers v. FDIC, 512 U.S. 79, 7 (1994)

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Cite as: 512 U. S. 79 (1994)

Opinion of the Court

alleged negligence, and that is so whether or not California chooses to follow "the majority rule."

We turn, then, to the more substantial basis for the decision below, which asserts federal pre-emption not over the law of imputation generally, but only over its application to the FDIC suing as receiver. Respondent begins its defense of this principle by quoting United States v. Kimbell Foods, Inc., 440 U. S. 715, 726 (1979), to the effect that "federal law governs questions involving the rights of the United States arising under nationwide federal programs." But the FDIC is not the United States, and even if it were we would be begging the question to assume that it was asserting its own rights rather than, as receiver, the rights of ADSB. In any event, knowing whether "federal law governs" in the Kim-bell Foods sense—a sense which includes federal adoption of state-law rules, see id., at 727-729—does not much advance the ball. The issue in the present case is whether the California rule of decision is to be applied to the issue of imputation or displaced, and if it is applied it is of only theoretical interest whether the basis for that application is California's own sovereign power or federal adoption of California's disposition. See Boyle v. United Technologies Corp., 487 U. S. 500, 507, n. 3 (1988).

In answering the central question of displacement of California law, we of course would not contradict an explicit federal statutory provision. Nor would we adopt a court-made rule to supplement federal statutory regulation that is comprehensive and detailed; matters left unaddressed in such a scheme are presumably left subject to the disposition provided by state law. See Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Transport Workers, 451 U. S. 77, 97 (1981); Milwaukee v. Illinois, 451 U. S. 304, 319 (1981). Petitioner asserts that both these principles apply in the present case, by reason of 12 U. S. C. § 1821(d)(2)(A)(i) (1988 ed., Supp. IV), and the comprehensive legislation of which it is a part, the Financial Institutions

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