The Bad PlaceChicago Sun-Times - All | Cook County liable for property tax sale violations, judge rules by Violet Miller
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A federal judge ruled that Cook County must compensate homeowners who lost their properties and surplus equity in the county’s annual property‑tax sales after the U.S. Supreme Court declared the system unconstitutional. Since 2020, nearly 2,500 owners—often in Black neighborhoods such as Roseland and Englewood—had homes sold for tax debts as low as $1,600, forfeiting properties worth more than $108 million; the initial debts totalled $2.3 million. Judge Matthew Kennelly found the county “deliberately indifferent” to the violations and ordered relief for the victims, estimating an average loss of about $70,000 per household and projecting roughly $15 million in annual payouts, far less than the county’s claim that full compensation would cost “hundreds of millions.” The ruling follows the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that owners cannot lose surplus equity from tax foreclosures and precedes state legislation delaying future tax sales to allow compliance.
Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/money/2026/05/11/cook-county-property-tax-sale-violations-pappas
Cook County liable for property tax sale violations, judge rules
Since 2020, nearly 2,500 homeowners not only lost their properties but also the equity they had in those homes after their delinquent property taxes were sold. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled those sales unconstitutional three years ago. Now, a judge has held the county liable for damages.