Phoenix Bond and Indemnity Co. v. Pappas, No. 1-98-2905
1st District, January 25, 2000
SECOND DIVISION
| PHOENIX BOND AND INDEMNITY CO., MIDWEST REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT COMPANY, INC., OAK PARK INVESTMENTS, INC., AND S.I. SECURITIES, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. MARIA PAPPAS, COOK COUNTY TREASURER AND ex-officio COUNTY COLLECTOR OF COOK COUNTY, Defendant-Appellant. | Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County No. 98 CO 008 The Honorable Francis J. Barth, Judge Presiding. |
OPINION MODIFIED UPON DENIAL OF REHEARING
PRESIDING JUSTICE COUSINS delivered the opinion of the court:
The plaintiffs are tax buyers at the annual Cook County tax sale. In response to perceived anti-competitive practices among the bidders at the auction, the Cook County treasurer and ex officio county collector instituted a rule that properties on which multiple, simultaneous identical bids were made would not be sold at the auction. The plaintiffs brought this action seeking an injunction against the enforcement of this rule. The circuit court granted a temporary restraining order, which this court affirmed without opinion.
The defendant, surmising that the plaintiffs might be guilty of collusion, attempted to discover materials that would support her equitable defense of unclean hands. The plaintiffs moved that the discovery requests be quashed, and the circuit court granted their motion. The parties then filed cross motions for summary judgment. The circuit court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendant, entering a permanent injunction preventing the collector from enforcing the disputed rule.
The defendant now appeals, arguing that: (1) the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for the plaintiffs and denying her motion for summary judgment; and (2) the trial court erred in quashing her discovery requests.
BACKGROUND
Many procedures are available to an Illinois county collector to secure payment of delinquent property taxes. See generally D. Karlen & R. Slutzky, Tax Collection and Methods of Enforcement, in Real Estate Taxation (Ill. Inst. for Cont. Legal Educ. 1997). As a first step the collector generally proceeds in rem and files with the circuit court for judgment in the amount of taxes due plus costs and an order authorizing sale in satisfaction of the judgment. If the circuit court grants its approval, the delinquent property goes to a public auction. Rosewell v. Chicago Title & Trust Co., 99 Ill. 2d 407, 410, 459 N.E.2d 966, 967 (1984); 35 ILCS 200/21-190 (West 1996). There, tax buyers who are registered and (in Cook County) satisfy a bond requirement bid upon the property. 35 ILCS 200/21-220 (West 1996). The tax buyers pay the judgment and in exchange receive a tax lien on the property.
A person possessing an interest in the property may redeem the parcel within (in most cases) two years of the purchase by the tax buyer. Ill. Const. 1970, art. IX,