Richard Olson filed four Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Petitions and Plans in a five year period- the last one on the eve of the foreclosure of his home. The assignee of his original mortgage lender Bank of America objected to confirmation of his latest Plan on the basis that it failed to comply with the confirmation...Read More
This case is a testament to the subprime crisis and illustrates how complex and devastating mortgage securitization and pooling was to ordinary homeowners; middle-class people faced with sudden and insurmountable mortgage debt. Sadly, this decision also illustrates just how hard it is to stand up to the holders of pooled mortgage loans.Read More
Continental Casualty Company v. Symons, et al. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Citation: 14-2665, 14-2671 & 15-106 Decided: March 22, 2016 This fraudulent transfer case pits 2 insurance company’s – as well as the controlling family of the seller and their related businesses – against one another. despite some fancy footwork on the part of...Read More
In this case the value of unexpired commercial leases was put to the test. When a popular auto-repair/oil-change franchise went into Chapter 11, its unsecured creditors sought to recoup of the value of 2 unexpired leases it relinquished just before filing. The 7th Circuit analyzed the issue under 2 provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and...Read More
This case stems from the ill-fated Lincoln-Belmont-Ashland Redevelopment project featured on our Blog before. When a Condominium Association sued the developers based on failure to reveal construction defects, the Courts weighed in on whether the claims were time-barred. Untimely, the Appellate and Supreme Court broke with the Trial Court and found that a question of...Read More
In this case from right in our neighborhood - Joliet, Illinois - the Bankruptcy Court and 7th Circuit agree that using the market value of property instead of its artificially low disposal price in a tax sale reflects the real intent of both Bankruptcy law and Illinois law. At the same time, both Courts agree...Read More
The Illinois Supreme Court recently ruled on the tricky interplay between the Illinois Condominium Property Act and Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law. Both pieces of legislation are meant to give real estate owners, investors, managers, and ultimately residents, confidence that their needs will be met through the legal process. In this case however, the Bank was...Read More
In this Opinion the Illinois Supreme Court comes down on the side of common sense when it comes to lienable improvements under §1 of the Illinois Mechanics Lien Act. After reversing the lower Courts however, the case was sent back down to the Circuit Court to determine whether the owner of the property “knowingly permitted”...Read More
After LAB Townhomes, the developer of Henderson Square, made false sales claims, built shoddy units, and engaged in fraud and negligent conduct in order to sell units, the Condominium Association sued it under the Chicago Municipal Code's prohibition on the use of material misrepresentations, as well as Illinois case and statutory law relating to breach...Read More
The Court stated conclusively that a Debtor in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy may not void a junior mortgage lien under §506(d) even when the value of the senior mortgage lien exceeds the value of the Debtor's home if the junior claim is secured by a lien and allowed under §502 of the Code.Read More
