Blog, News
Announcing Our 2019 Best Lawyers
We are pleased to post that the following attorneys from the firm have been selected to the The Best Lawyers in America (2019 Edition). Banking and Finance Law Jay P. Kennedy Madalyn S. Kinsey James G. Lauck Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law Jay P. Kennedy James A. Knauer Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law Brian C. Bosma Corporate Compliance Law David E. Wright Environmental Law Gregory P. Cafouros Government Relations Practice Brian C. Bosma Litigation – Banking and Finance Jay P. Kennedy James G. Lauck Litigation – Bankruptcy James A. Knauer
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Announcing Our 2018 Super Lawyers
We are pleased to post that the following attorneys from the firm have been selected to the 2018 Indiana Super Lawyers and the Indiana Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. Each year no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. William Bock Entertainment & Sports Jay Kennedy Creditor Debtor Rights Madalyn Kinsey Banking James Knauer Business Litigation David Wright Business Litigation Rising Stars Joseph Pettygrove Employment & Labor Justin Leverton Business & Corporate
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Banking and Commercial Transactions, Blog
Mortgaged Property Sold at Tax Sale – What’s a Lender to do?
A lender’s priority in mortgaged commercial property can evaporate when the owner fails to pay property taxes. While a lender can preserve its mortgage interest in the property by insuring payment of the property taxes prior to a tax deed being given to a tax sale purchaser, it becomes progressively more expensive to preserve the lender’s interest. This article will go through the tax sale procedure in Indiana, review the notices that must be given to the property owner and the mortgage holder, and detail the timing and payment amounts that may be necessary to preserve the lender’s priority. The Tax Sale Statutes – Ind. Code 6-1.1-24-1 et. seq. The Indiana laws detailing how, when and where tax sales are held are contained in the Indiana Code starting at Ind. Code 6-1.1-21-1. That section states that the Treasurer of each county has a duty to certify to the county Auditor on or before June 30th of any given year any property taxes that are “delinquent”. Delinquent is defined in Ind. Code 6-1.1-37-10 as taxes not paid when due (normally May 10th (a “spring installment”) and November 10th (a “fall installment”)). Arguably that could mean that a property could be sold at tax sale for a single delinquent payment – even including the spring installment of the year that a tax sale is held. In practice however, most Indiana tax sales only seek to collect delinquent payments from previous years. A survey of Marion, Boone, Hamilton, and Vanderburgh counties, as well as most of the other counties…
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Blog, Business Litigation
Appellate Court reaffirms Lender’s Priority over Mechanic’s Lien holders– but big questions remain
The Indiana Court of Appeals recently reaffirmed a lender’s priority in mortgaged commercial property over mechanic’s lien holders so long as the lender’s mortgage was recorded first and the proceeds of the lender’s loan were used “for the specific project.” As discussed below, a mechanic’s lien holder may upend the “first to file” general rule, but this recent decision preserves the lender’s priority so long as specific requirements are met. Kellam – The Latest Case The case of Kellam Excavating, Inc. v Community State Bank, 82 N.E.3d 928 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017) (“Kellam”) follows up on the case of Harold McComb & Son, Inc. v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA, 892 N.E. 2d 1255 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008) (“McComb”). In both Kellam and McComb the Court reviewed the three Indiana Code provisions generally related to the priority of a lender’s mortgage vs. a filed mechanic’s lien. While there are conflicting provisions in the statutes, both decisions explicitly hold that there is a “Lender Exception” provided for in Ind. Code §32-28-3-5(d) which gives absolute priority in real estate and improvements to a lender when (1) the lender’s mortgage was properly recorded before the mechanic’s lien notice; (2) the funds from the loan secured by the mortgage are intended to finance those improvements; and (3) the lender meets the statutory definition of “Lender,” which is a supervised financial organization or any other entity that has the authority to make loans (Ind. Code §32-28-3-5(a). In Kellam a mechanic’s lien holder questioned whether a leasehold mortgage for improvements constructed on…
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