Joseph Van

United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided January 13, 2020·No. 16-19075·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION In re: ) Chapter 13 JOSEPH VAN, No. 16 B 19075 Debtor. Judge Goldgar

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before the court for ruling is chapter 13 debtor Joseph Van’s objection to the amended claim of DuPage County Treasurer Gwen Henry for 2012-15 property taxes. The claim (No. 5-1) amended an earlier claim that sought payment only of the 2015 taxes. The Treasurer amended her claim because the 2012-14 taxes had been sold ~ but the state court had issued declarations of sales in error, and the Treasurer had repaid the tax purchasers. So in her amended claim the Treasurer added the 2012-14 taxes to her original claim, increasing the claim amount and demanding 18 percent interest. The Treasurer’s problem: not only had the bar date long passed, but two and a half years earlier Van had confirmed a plan that paid the 2012-14 taxes in a lower amount with no interest. The Treasurer had notice of the plan and did not object. As discussed below, the Treasurer’s amended claim is late and is barred. The Treasurer is bound by the confirmed plan. Van’s objection will be sustained and the amended claim disallowed.

1. Jurisdiction The court has subject matter jurisdiction of this case under 28 U.S.C. § 1334(a) and the district court’s Internal Operating Procedure 15(a). This is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B).

2. Facts The facts are drawn from Van’s schedules in the bankruptcy case, the court’s docket and claim register, and the parties’ papers. No facts are in dispute.

a, Van and his Property Van is 63 and lives with a roommate in a house in West Chicago, Illinois. Van has a one- fifth interest in the property: he and his brother and three sisters inherited it from their mother. (The brother and the sisters live elsewhere.) Van is unemployed. He subsists on Social Security, food stamps, and rent from the roommate. West Chicago is in DuPage County. Van’s house is subject to property taxes that DuPage County imposes annually.

b. The Illinois Property Tax Collection System Illinois employs a complex system for collecting property taxes. Because that system is described extensively elsewhere, see in re LaMont, 740 F.3d 397, 400-01 (7th Cir. 2014); Jn re Commings, 297 B.R. 701, 703-05 (Bankr. N.D, JIE. 2003); IICLE, Real Estate Taxation (2016), only a brief outline is needed here. Each year on January 1, Illinois counties levy taxes on real property, and a lien securing payment of the taxes attaches to each owner’s property. LaMont, 740 F.3d at 400. The taxes themselves are due the year after they are levied; the lien, on the other hand, arises right away. In lilinois counties other than Cook, property taxes are paid in two installments. The first is due on June I, the second on September I. 35 ILCS 200/21-15. If the owner pays the taxes, the

A bankruptcy court can take judicial notice of its own records, Jn re Woodmar Realty Co., 294 F.2d 785, 788 (7th Cir. 1961), including a debtor’s schedules, Frierdich v. Mottaz, 294 F.3d 864, 870 (7th Cir. 2002).

county’s lien is extinguished. LaMfont, 740 F.3d at 400; Commings, 297 B.R. at 704; HCLE, supra, § 10.5. If he does not, the county can recover the unpaid taxes through several kinds of “tax sales.” LaMont, 740 F.3d at 400; Commings, 297 B.R. at 704. Of these, the most common is the “annual! tax sale.” Commings, 297 B.R. at 704; see generally 35 ILCS 200/21-190 to -255. After the county collector applies for and receives from the state court a judgment and order of sale, 35 ILCS 200/21-175, the county offers the delinquent taxpayer’s property for sale at a public auction, 35 ILCS 200/21-190." But prospective purchasers at the auction do not bid the value of the property, and the winning bidder does not acquire the property itself. Purchasers instead bid the “amount due” on the property — the delinquent taxes plus fees and accrued interest ~ along with a penalty. 35 ILCS 200/21-215; IICLE, supra, § 10.27 at 10-25. On paying that amount, the successful bidder receives a “certificate of purchase,” 35 ILCS 21-250; IICLE, supra, § 10.29 at 10-29, 10-31, entitling him either to reimbursement of the amount paid or to a deed. In effect, the county’s lien “shifts” to the purchaser. Commings, 297 B.R. at 704. Despite his victory at the auction, the purchaser cannot enforce the lien immediately. The taxpayer still has a chance to “redeem” the property. 35 ILCS 200/21-345. During the next two years, 35 ILCS 200/21-350(a), or two and a half years if the property is a residence, 35 ILCS 200- 350(b), the taxpayer can pay to the county clerk whatever the purchaser paid at the sale, plus interest and other fees and charges, 35 ILCS 200/21-355. The clerk will then repay the purchaser. 4.P. Props., Inc. v. Goshinsky, 186 UL 2d 524, 530, 714 N.E.2d 519, 522 (1999), The repayment releases the purchaser’s claim against the property. 35 ILCS 200/21-390.

# The “county collector” is the county treasurer. 35 ILCS 200/19-35. -3-

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