Lerch v. United States

362 F. Supp. 3d 499
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedJanuary 24, 2019
DocketNo. 15 C 08646
StatusPublished

This text of 362 F. Supp. 3d 499 (Lerch v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lerch v. United States, 362 F. Supp. 3d 499 (illinoised 2019).

Opinion

Honorable Edmond E. Chang, United States District Judge

In April 2011, the United States filed a judgment lien against the property at 294 Maplewood Road, Riverside, Illinois (call it the "Riverside property"). Exh. 42, Abstract of Judgment. The title owner of the property is Jingqiu Lerch (Jingqiu). The lien was a result of a judgment against William Lerch (William), Jingqiu's husband, who has since passed away. In 2015, Jingqiu brought a quiet-title action against the federal government in state court, seeking to vacate the lien against her property. R. 1, Not. of Removal at 1.1 That action was removed to federal court and became this lawsuit.2 See id. The government then filed a counterclaim seeking to foreclose on its lien against the Riverside property, arguing that Jingqiu held the property as William's nominee, that William was the true owner of the entire property, and that the government's lien was thus valid.3 R. 26, Answer and Counterclaim at 4-10.

After the case was reassigned to this Court's calendar, the Court held a bench trial on December 13, 2018. At the trial, the witnesses were Alex Pulles, a financial investigator for the government, and Jingqiu Lerch. Deposition testimony from William Lerch was also entered into evidence.

After considering all the evidence presented, the Court finds that the government has not proven that Jingqiu owned *501the entire property as William's nominee. What the government has proved is that Jingqiu and William purchased the house together and held the property as tenants in common. This means that the government may foreclose on a 50% interest in the property, and Jingqiu retains ownership of the other 50%.

I. Background

To understand the government's asserted judgment lien requires going back to the mid-1990s. In 1995, a company called National Lacquer purchased a site at 7411-7431 South Green Street in Chicago. United States v. Capital Tax Corp. , 545 F.3d 525, 528 (7th Cir. 2008) (for convenience's sake, Capital Tax Corp. I ). At the time, William was managing National Lacquer's operations at the site, and over the next several years, William also became National Lacquer's treasurer, and then a 50% owner (he co-owned the company with another man, named Steven Pedi). United States v. Capital Tax Corp. , 2007 WL 54039, at *2-3 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 4, 2007) (call this second opinion Capital Tax Corp. II ). National Lacquer "reclaimed paint, manufactured paints and coatings, and performed furniture stripping operations at the site." Capital Tax Corp. I , 545 F.3d at 528. In January of 1998, the Chicago Department of Environment inspected the site and found hazardous waste. Capital Tax Corp. II , 2007 WL 54039, at *3. In May 1998, the Environment Department inspected the site again, this time with the Chicago Fire Department, and found more problems, including leakage from old, "rusty, damaged" paint containers from the site. Id. In July of the same year, National Lacquer entered into a settlement agreement with Chicago, agreeing to repair or dispose of leaking containers. Id . In October 2001, a different company, Capital Tax, obtained a tax deed for portions of National Lacquer's site, and sometime in 2002 it evicted William and National Lacquer from those portions of the site. Id. at *4. But the hazardous waste had not been entirely cleaned up-or the issue arose again-because in April 2002 William put in an emergency call to the Department of Environment, alleging that Capital Tax was moving containers from its portions of the site onto his. Id. at *5. Over a year later, in July and August 2003, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved and inspected the site at least twice. Id. at *6-7. It issued Unilateral Administrative Orders to Capital Tax, Pedi, and William in August, demanding that they clean up the site. Id. at *7. In October 2003, the EPA began its own clean-up of the site. Id.

After the EPA cleaned up the site, it attempted to recover its costs from Capital Tax, Pedi, and William. Capital Tax Corp. I , 545 F.3d at 529 ; see also Capital Tax Corp. , 2007 WL 2225900, at *6-7 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 1, 2007) ( Capital Tax Corp. III ). Pedi settled with the EPA, Capital Tax Corp. III , 2007 WL 2225900 at *13, but the EPA obtained judgments against Capital Tax and William. See generally, id. Jingqiu Lerch did not know about the judgments-or the EPA investigation at all-until September 2010. R. 59, Order on Mot. Summary Judgment at 5.

In the meantime, Jingqiu and William began a relationship. In 1997, the two got married. On October 31, 1999, they both signed a sales contract to purchase the Riverside property, Exh. 4, Sales Contract at 1,4 and on December 30, 1999, William signed a home insurance application for *502the property, Exh. 7, Ins. App. at 2. But when the closing took place on January 4, 2000, Jingqiu's name was the only name on the warranty deed that was transferred to her by the sellers that day. Exh. 23, Closing Docs. at 2-4.

In March 2001, Jingqiu refinanced the original mortgage that was used to purchase the Riverside property. Exh. 8, Mortgage Note at 1; Exh. 2, Original Mortgage Release at 1. As of March 2001, the balance on the refinanced mortgage was $ 172,000. The debt was apparently paid off soon after, and on September 25, 2002, Jingqiu's mortgagee recorded a satisfaction of it. See Exh. 9, Mortgage Release at 1. Before the refinanced mortgage was paid off, William sold another property that he owned, this one located in Cicero, Illinois, and he personally received $ 118,000 from that transaction. Exh. 18, William Lerch Dep. at 269:20-270:5.

Jingqiu and William separated in June 2001. Exh. 31, Diss. of Marriage at 1. Jingqiu took a three-month trip to China, and when she returned, she did not move back into the Riverside property. In November 2002, the divorce court issued a divorce judgment requiring William to quitclaim any interest in the Riverside property to Jingqiu, which he did. Exh. 31, Diss. of Marriage at 2.

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Bluebook (online)
362 F. Supp. 3d 499, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lerch-v-united-states-illinoised-2019.