35 ILCS 516/245

(35 ILCS 516/245)

Sec. 245. Payments from Indemnity Fund.

(a) Any owner of a mobile home sold under any provision of this Act who sustains loss or damage by reason of the issuance of a tax certificate of title under Section 360 or 400 and who is barred or is in any way precluded from bringing an action for the recovery of the mobile home shall have the right to indemnity for the loss or damage sustained, limited as follows:

(1) An owner who resided in a mobile home on the last day of the period of redemption and who is equitably entitled to compensation for the loss or damage sustained has the right to indemnity. An equitable indemnity award shall be limited to the fair cash value of the mobile home as of the date the tax certificate of title was issued less any liens on the mobile home, and the award will not exceed $99,000. The court shall liberally construe this equitable entitlement standard to provide compensation wherever, in the discretion of the court, the equities warrant the action.

An owner of a mobile home who requests an award in excess of $99,000 must prove that the loss of his or her mobile home was not attributable to his or her own fault or negligence before an award in excess of $99,000 will be granted.

(2) An owner who sustains the loss or damage of any mobile home occasioned by reason of the issuance of a tax certificate of title, without fault or negligence of his or her own, has the right to indemnity limited to the fair cash value of the mobile home less any liens on the mobile home. In determining the existence of fault or negligence, the court shall consider whether the owner exercised ordinary reasonable diligence under all of the relevant circumstances.

(3) In determining the fair cash value of a mobile home less any liens on the mobile home, the fair cash value shall be reduced by the principal amount of all taxes paid by the tax purchaser or his or her assignee before the issuance of the tax certificate of title.

(4) If an award made under paragraph (1) or (2) is subject to a reduction by the amount of an outstanding lien on the mobile home, other than the principal amount of all taxes paid by the tax purchaser or his or her assignee before the issuance of the tax certificate of title and the petitioner would be personally liable to the lienholder for all or part of that reduction amount, the court shall order an additional indemnity award to be paid directly to the lienholder sufficient to discharge the petitioner's personal liability. The court, in its discretion, may order the joinder of the lienholder as an additional party to the indemnity action.

(b) Indemnity fund; subrogation.

(1) Any person claiming indemnity hereunder shall petition the court which ordered the tax certificate of title to issue, shall name the county treasurer, as trustee of the indemnity fund, as defendant to the petition, and shall ask that judgment be entered against the county treasurer, as trustee, in the amount of the indemnity sought. The provisions of the Civil Practice Law shall apply to proceedings under the petition, except that neither the petitioner nor county treasurer shall be entitled to trial by jury on the issues presented in the petition. The court shall liberally construe this Section to provide compensation wherever in the discretion of the Court the equities warrant such action.

(2) The county treasurer, as trustee of the indemnity fund, shall be subrogated to all parties in whose favor judgment may be rendered against him or her, and by third party complaint may bring in as a defendant any person, other than the tax certificate of title grantee and its successors in title, not a party to the action who is or may be liable to him or her, as subrogee, for all or part of the petitioner's claim against him or her.

(c) Any contract involving the proceeds of a judgment for indemnity under this Section, between the tax certificate of title grantee or its successors in title and the indemnity petitioner or his or her successors, shall be in writing. In any action brought under this Section, the Collector shall be entitled to discovery regarding, but not limited to, the following:

(1) the identity of all persons beneficially interested in the contract, directly or indirectly, including at least the following information: the names and addresses of any natural persons; the place of incorporation of any corporation and the names and addresses of its shareholders unless it is publicly held; the names and addresses of all general and limited partners of any partnership; the names and addresses of all persons having an ownership interest in any entity doing business under an assumed name, and the county in which the assumed business name is registered; and the nature and extent of the interest in the contract of each person identified;

(2) the time period during which the contract was negotiated and agreed upon, from the date of the first direct or indirect contact between any of the contracting parties to the date of its execution;

(3) the name and address of each natural person who took part in negotiating the contract, and the identity and relationship of the party that the person represented in the negotiations; and

(4) the existence of an agreement for payment of attorney's fees by or on behalf of each party.

Any information disclosed during discovery may be subject to protective order as deemed appropriate by the court. The terms of the contract shall not be used as evidence of value.

(Source: P.A. 92-807, eff. 1-1-03.)