Illinois County Liable for Unconstitutional Tax Sale System

A group of property owners and nonprofits can hold Cook County, Ill. responsible for its unconstitutional tax foreclosure methods, a federal court said.

The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found last year that Cook County—which contains Chicago and its inner suburbs—violated the federal Fifth Amendment’s takings clause and Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause when it unlawfully retained surplus proceeds from tax sale foreclosures. The court left for trial whether the county could be held liable under the US Supreme Court decision Monell v. Department of Social Services of NYC.

Under Monell, in cases where a ...