Lessee property tax liability after rejection of Indian land lease
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 4:06 pm
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Dear Dennis (and anyone else who wishes to opine on these matters),
I. Is There Lessee Property Tax Liability After Rejection Of Indian Land Lease?
Do you have any statute or caselaw establishing that a lessee (not the owner) is liable for property taxes after rejecting the lease in a Chapter 7?
I have a Chapter 7 client who has been leasing Indian land in Big River, California. In his Statement of Intention he has indicated that he will reject the lease. The 341 (in Riverside) is on Tuesday, April 7, so I don't know yet if the Trustee plans on assuming the lease.
If the Trustee doesn't assume the lease then what? Will the county sue my client for back property taxes? That seems particularly odd given that my client never had an ownership interest in the land - it was a lease after all. My view is that my client is indistinguishable from a renter who is breaking a lease and putting the unpaid lease payments into Schedule F. Why would he be liable for property taxes?
II. Can The Indians Put Pecuniary Restrictions On Lease Rejection In A Chapter 7?
I recently received a letter from the Indians' land company starting that my client could not reject the lease in his bankruptcy unless he took several actions including (of course) paying the Indians a lease rejection fee. Are they allowed to do this? I have never heard of such a thing, but this is my first dealing with an Indian land lease.
Is there some special law that exempts the Indians from federal bankruptcy law? Article VI of the U.S. Constitution says that the U.S. Constitution and all federal laws made in pursuance thereof are the supreme law of the land - meaning that bankruptcy law is part of the supreme law of the land. Why wouldn't it apply to the Indians? I realize that they have some sort of quasi-sovereign status, though it is not absolute.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
All the best,
Nick
Nicholas Gebelt, Ph.D., J.D.
Law Offices of Nicholas Gebelt
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----- Original Message -----
To: cdcbaa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 1:44 PM
Subject: RE: [cdcbaa] property tax obligation after foreclosure
Pat:
San Berdoo has all of the land from LA County to the Colorado River, including the land owned by Indian tribes. When people go out and lease Indian lands (example a trailer spot at the river), but never actually develope the land, or put a trailer on them, etc., etc., etc., they also don't pay the taxes. San Berdoo (and Riverside, as far as I know, but have no personal experience with an actual Riverside suit) sue(s) the parties who had the leases for the real estate taxes rather than chasing the tribes.
dennis
--- On Thu, 4/2/09, Patrick Green wrote:
Subject: RE: [cdcbaa] property tax obligation after foreclosure
To: cdcbaa@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2009, 10:03 AM
Dennis:
What were the facts in the SBernCo cases? While I understand the personal liability issue, because delinquent property taxes are always paid through escrow in order to clear title when property changes hands, I don
Pat
Patrick T. Green, Esq.
Fitzgerald & Green
Attorneys at Law
1010 E. Union Street
Suite 206
Pasadena, CA 91106
Tel: 626-449-8433
Fax: 626-449-0565
pat@fitzgreenlaw. com
n Behalf Of Dennis McGoldrick
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 1:47 PM
To: cdcbaa@yahoogroups. com
Subject: Re: [cdcbaa] property tax obligation after foreclosure
99 times out of 100 they go away, but I have seen the San Bernardino Tax Collector sue owners personally.
So the real answer is, there is personal liabiltiy, but the next owner has to pay the tax and I have never seen a suit for contribution.
dennis
--- On Wed, 4/1/09, Mark J. Markus wrote:
Subject: [cdcbaa] property tax obligation after foreclosure
To: cdcbaa@yahoogroups. com
Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 1:39 PM
Just want to be sure this is correct:
If a client files Ch. 7 and his home is foreclosed on, does he have any personal liability for the property taxes after the foreclosure? I know they arent probably dischargeable, but I always understood that the property taxes go with the property (i.e. the foreclosing party would have to pay them in order to take title). I have a client insisting otherwise.
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Law Office of Mark J. Markus
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