Bill Text: IL HB5201 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Property Tax Code. In a provision concerning payments from the Indemnity Fund, provides that petitions for indemnity must be filed no later than 10 years after the tax deed was issued. Effective immediately.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-15 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB5201 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB5201-Introduced.html

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96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2009 and 2010 HB5201 Introduced 2/3/2010, by Rep. Franco Coladipietro SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
35 ILCS 200/21-305
Amends the Property Tax Code. In a provision concerning payments from the Indemnity Fund, provides that petitions for indemnity must be filed no later than 10 years after the tax deed was issued. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning revenue.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing
Section 21-305 as follows:
(35 ILCS 200/21-305)
Sec. 21-305. Payments from Indemnity Fund.
(a) Any owner of property sold under any provision of this
Code who sustains loss or damage by reason of the issuance of a
tax deed under Section 21-445 or 22-40 and who is barred or is
in any way precluded from bringing an action for the recovery
of the property shall have the right to indemnity for the loss
or damage sustained, limited as follows:
(1) An owner who resided on property that contained 4
or less dwelling units on the last day of the period of
redemption and who is equitably entitled to compensation
for the loss or damage sustained has the right to
indemnity. An equitable indemnity award shall be limited to
the fair cash value of the property as of the date the tax
deed was issued less any mortgages or liens on the
property, and the award will not exceed $99,000. The Court
shall liberally construe this equitable entitlement
standard to provide compensation wherever, in the

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discretion of the Court, the equities warrant the action.
An owner of a property that contained 4 or less
dwelling units who requests an award in excess of $99,000
must prove that the loss of his or her property was not
attributable to his or her own fault or negligence before
an award in excess of $99,000 will be granted.
(2) An owner who sustains the loss or damage of any
property occasioned by reason of the issuance of a tax
deed, without fault or negligence of his or her own, has
the right to indemnity limited to the fair cash value of
the property less any mortgages or liens on the property.
In determining the existence of fault or negligence, the
court shall consider whether the owner exercised ordinary
reasonable diligence under all of the relevant
circumstances.
(3) In determining the fair cash value of property less
any mortgages or liens on the property, the fair cash value
shall be reduced by the principal amount of all taxes paid
by the tax purchaser or his or her assignee before the
issuance of the tax deed.
(4) If an award made under paragraph (1) or (2) is
subject to a reduction by the amount of an outstanding
mortgage or lien on the property, other than the principal
amount of all taxes paid by the tax purchaser or his or her
assignee before the issuance of the tax deed and the
petitioner would be personally liable to the mortgagee or

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lienholder for all or part of that reduction amount, the
court shall order an additional indemnity award to be paid
directly to the mortgagee or lienholder sufficient to
discharge the petitioner's personal liability. The court,
in its discretion, may order the joinder of the mortgagee
or lienholder as an additional party to the indemnity
action.
(b) Indemnity fund; subrogation.
(1) Any person claiming indemnity hereunder shall
petition the Court which ordered the tax deed to issue,
shall name the County Treasurer, as Trustee of the
indemnity fund, as defendant to the petition, and shall ask
that judgment be entered against the County Treasurer, as
Trustee, in the amount of the indemnity sought. The
provisions of the Civil Practice Law shall apply to
proceedings under the petition, except that neither the
petitioner nor County Treasurer shall be entitled to trial
by jury on the issues presented in the petition. The Court
shall liberally construe this Section to provide
compensation wherever in the discretion of the Court the
equities warrant such action.
(2) The County Treasurer, as Trustee of the indemnity
fund, shall be subrogated to all parties in whose favor
judgment may be rendered against him or her, and by third
party complaint may bring in as a defendant any person,
other than the tax deed grantee and its successors in

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title, not a party to the action who is or may be liable to
him or her, as subrogee, for all or part of the
petitioner's claim against him or her.
(c) Any contract involving the proceeds of a judgment for
indemnity under this Section, between the tax deed grantee or
its successors in title and the indemnity petitioner or his or
her successors, shall be in writing. In any action brought
under Section 21-305, the Collector shall be entitled to
discovery regarding, but not limited to, the following:
(1) the identity of all persons beneficially
interested in the contract, directly or indirectly,
including at least the following information: the names and
addresses of any natural persons; the place of
incorporation of any corporation and the names and
addresses of its shareholders unless it is publicly held;
the names and addresses of all general and limited partners
of any partnership; the names and addresses of all persons
having an ownership interest in any entity doing business
under an assumed name, and the county in which the assumed
business name is registered; and the nature and extent of
the interest in the contract of each person identified;
(2) the time period during which the contract was
negotiated and agreed upon, from the date of the first
direct or indirect contact between any of the contracting
parties to the date of its execution;
(3) the name and address of each natural person who

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took part in negotiating the contract, and the identity and
relationship of the party that the person represented in
the negotiations; and
(4) the existence of an agreement for payment of
attorney's fees by or on behalf of each party.
Any information disclosed during discovery may be subject
to protective order as deemed appropriate by the court. The
terms of the contract shall not be used as evidence of value.
(d) A petition of indemnity under this Section must be
filed within 10 years after the date the tax deed was issued.
(Source: P.A. 91-564, eff. 8-14-99.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.