23 BK 00811
In November 2022, the bankruptcy case of Capital Equity Land Trust #2140215 was dismissed because the Bankruptcy Code does not allow land trusts, as opposed to business trusts, to file for bankruptcy relief.  That case was also dismissed for having been filed in bad faith.  The land trust’s beneficiary, First Premier Funding, LLC, subsequently filed for bankruptcy relief regarding the same property two months later in January 2023.

The court dismissed the later filed case on res judicata grounds and for having been filed in bad faith as a litigation tactic where Capital Equity Land Trust’s appeal of the tax deed proceeding was appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court while its beneficiary’s subsequent case proceeded in the bankruptcy court.  The Illinois Supreme Court denied the land trust’s Petition for Leave to Appeal.