Property Tax Lien Linvestor is Spanked in Court :-)

                                                       by Lachin Hatemi M.D.

A Louisville, Kentucky judge denied Tax Ease Liens' attempt to charge outrageous attorney fee. We are tried of these companies try to foreclose on properties for their lousy 200-300$ tax liens. Judge did the right thing and we applaud him for his decision. I hope Phil Migicovsky, owner of Tax Ease Liens, learned a lesson from this decision and other judges across the nation follows the suit.

Here we go, I love this story,......

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC v. HINKLE

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

v.

WINSTON COTNER HINKLE, A/K/A WINSON COTNER HINKLE; UNKNOWN SPOUSE OF WINSTON COTNER HINKLE, A/K/A WINSON COTNER HINKLE; DEBORAH BROTHERS; UNKNOWN SPOUSE OF DEBORAH BROTHERS; WILLIAM HINKLE; UNKNOWN SPOUSE OF WILLIAM HINKLE; SOUTHERN TAX SERVICES, LLC; CITY OF LA CENTER; AND COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, COUNTY OF BALLARD, BY AND ON RELATION OF JONATHAN MILLER, SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION CABINET APPELLEES AND

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

SANDRA LYNN; UNKNOWN SPOUSE OF SANDRA LYNN AND BALLARD COUNTY, KENTUCKY APPELLEES AND

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

v.

GARY LINDSEY; STARR LINDSEY, A/K/A STARR MINICH AND BALLARD COUNTY, KENTUCKY APPELLEES AND

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

v.

JEFFERY GRAVES AND BALLARD COUNTY, KENTUCKY APPELLEES AND

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

v.

EQUITY TRUST COMPANY CUSTODIAN FBO AND BALLARD COUNTY, KENTUCKY APPELLEES AND

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

v.

WILLIAM G. STANTON; MICHAEL D. STANTON; JAMES J. STANTON; UNKNOWN SPOUSE OF JAMES J. STANTON; UNKNOWN SPOUSE OF WILLIAM G. STANTON; JAMOS FUND I, LP AND BALLARD COUNTY, KENTUCKY APPELLEES AND

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

v.

DAVID L. ROBINSON; BALLARD COUNTY, KENTUCKY AND UNKNOWN SPOUSE OF DAVID L. ROBINSON APPELLEES AND

TAX EASE LIEN INVESTMENTS 1, LLC APPELLANT,

v.

RONNIE TABER AND BALLARD COUNTY, KENTUCKY APPELLEES.

Nos. 2011-CA-000652-MR, 2011-CA-001162-MR, 2011-CA-001173-MR, 2011-CA-001174-MR, 2011-CA-001175-MR, 2011-CA-001176-MR, 2011-CA-001177-MR, 2011-CA-001666-MR

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Rendered: October 19, 2012.

R. Eric Craig, P. Blaine Grant, Daniel P. Cherry, Louisville, Kentucky, BRIEF FOR APPELLANT.

No Brief filed for appellees, BRIEF FOR APPELLEE.

BEFORE: COMBS AND THOMPSON, JUDGES; LAMBERT,¹ SENIOR JUDGE.

---

OPINION

THOMPSON, JUDGE:

These eight appeals filed by Tax Ease Lien Investments 1, LLC, a third-party purchaser of tax liens, have been consolidated. The issues presented are whether the trial court abused its discretion when it reduced Tax Ease's request for attorney's fees incurred during foreclosure actions to enforce tax liens and whether a pro rata distribution of the foreclosure sale proceeds should have been ordered to all tax lien holders. We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when determining the reasonableness of the litigation fees requested but erred when it did not order a pro rata distribution of the sale proceeds.²

Except for the amount of attorney's fees requested and the varying amounts awarded, the substantive facts are the same and the trial court's reasoning regarding the fees and pro rata distribution identical. To avoid redundancy, we only recite the facts in Hinkle v. Tax Ease Lien Investments I, LLC, 2011-CA-000652-MR.

Tax Ease purchased a certificate of delinquency on April 28, 2008, for $371.21. On April 30, 2010, it filed a complaint in the Ballard Circuit Court to enforce its rights to collect the amount due for the certificate of delinquency, accrued interest, attorney's fees and costs. A default judgment, summary judgment, and an order of sale were entered on March 16, 2011.

Tax Ease's attorney submitted an affidavit for an award of attorney's fees detailing the work performed and the hours expended to enforce the certificate of delinquency and complete the foreclosure process. The affidavit stated a total amount of time expended of fourteen and one-half hours and that the firm had agreed to accept a flat fee of $1,300, which equated to $89.66 per hour worked.³

The trial court reduced the amount awarded for litigation fees from $1,300 to $130 and reduced the request for prelitigation attorney's fees from $445.28 to $300.97.⁴ Finally, the court denied Tax Ease's request that the sale proceeds be distributed pro rata to all parties with valid tax liens. Tax Ease challenges only the reduction in litigation fees awarded and the pro rata distribution of the sale proceeds. 

Greg Voss in action for Tax Lien Investor: Jamos Fund

Check out this letter. Attorney Greg Voss is doing his magic, trying to collect a property tax lien on behalf of Jamos Fund LP. This is happening in Metcalfe County in Kentucky!



It is amazing how he charges almost 290$ for just sending this letter to collect 25.61$ in interest income. This is just the beginning...

If the recepient of this letter does not follow up, this fees can easily become 2000-3000$ when attorney fees are added. Such a racket. Profit margins in this business is huge at the expense of homeowners.

 

How IRS expose Tax Lien Fraudsters?

              Some private investors, hedge funds and corporations found the treasure chest in property tax liens. States allow investors to charge 8-20% in interest charges for their troubles. But strange things had been reported by the homeowner  victims of tax lien investors.

 

     Some investors had been fighting tooth and nail to buy your 200-300$ tax lien.

As you might expect, interest income on such a lien is minuscule. Where is the money trail?
Well here is the loophole. Attorneys are allowed to charge "reasonable" attorney fees for their efforts to collect these funds. So some of these companies charge 1000% of the total face value. So your 300$ lien magically transforms to $3000 after attorneys do their magic.

 This does not pass the smell test.

Attorneys make fortunes charging crazy attorney fees on these liens. So I would like to know if these attorneys pay their income taxes on those fees. If these funds are really "reasonable", attorneys are expected to pay income taxes on this income. If these attorneys kick back some of their fees back to the investors, such fees are not really reasonable and attorneys committed fraud.
IRS is essential in exposing this fraud if such scheme exists.

Follow the money and you will find the truth. And the truth will set you free....  

I would highly recommend IRS start keep tabs on companies like "Tax Ease Liens, Kentucky Tax Lien fund and their attorneys, just to keep them honest.


 

Boring life of a Real Estate Attorney

Life of a real estate attorney can be quite boring. Doing a lot of routine paperwork attending boring home closings. Crossing every T and dotting every I. Anybody who purchased or sold a house can imagine how many document they had to sign in a real estate closing. With recent wave of frauds and robosigning, the amount of paperwork is now out of control.

  To break for this boring routine, and generate new sources of revenue, the top rela estate attorneys in Lexington, KY jumped in the bandwagon. They became the specialized collectors of property tax liens. Paperwork is minimal and mostly prepared by paralegals.

  Markets are not free since the payor of the attorney fees is not a homeowner but a rather captive audience. They never had the chance to shop around to get better fees. They either pay of the collectors will foreclose on their house.

  Some of these attorneys are very well connected and known. For example, Virginia Lawson actually represented real estate agents and educator in kentucky board of Realtors. She now has an eye on your house.

 Billy Sherrow is another vulture in the making. One day Justice will be served and these attorneys will lose their license for good.

Justice delayed. Justice denied.

Where Goverment stands in property tax lien racket?

Mr. Brad Cowgill
Ex- State Budget Director

There had been some recent laws passed to regulate the property tax lien investors. These laws are very encouraging and represent steps taken towards the right direction. But a very interesting thing happen. Some politicians realize the potential profits in this business and wanted a piece of it.

No wonder the biggest (actually # 1) lobbying company in Kentucky is Tax Ease Liens and his owner Phil Migicovsky. Profits are surreal in this business. Who else can steal a $100,000 property with a $150 tax lien.

So old and new politicians are in this business. One prominent member of this racket is Mr. Brad Cowgill who was the ex-state budget director. He actually facilated the passage of some of the laws regulating this business.



 Mr Brad Cowgill's company Kentucky Tax liens wi one of the major players in this racket. He is not the only one in this business. Sannie Overly, a Kentucky representative is also in this business. Her law firm, Overly & Johnson, LLC , is knwon to be active as plantiff's attorney in Boyd county.



State Representative Sannie Overly


 Mrs. Sannie Overly is a local politican and a one of the lawyers in our radar screen for abuseing property tax lien collections. We have a special blog article featuring a case where she was the attorney. Victim for this case was a eldery nursing home resident, who died recently. We want Sannie Overly to resign sicne as a local politician she has significant conflict of interest issues. Her law firm represents Southern Tax Services and I will hopefully find out who owns that company.





Sannie Overly how are you suppose to represent Kentuckians while you are ripping them off at the same time.

How Tax Lien Investors get away with their illegal fees?

When a property tax is not paid by the property owner, a property tax lien is automatically placed by the local authorities. This lien gives the owner a top priority over the underlying property. The loophole is this, when you try to pay a delinquent tax bill, you can not pay it to the government. You need to find the "private tax lien investor" and mainly their attorneys. If you are in Lexington, KY there are couple big playes in this. You either contact Sherrow & Sutherland in Southland drive or Virginia Lawson's office in Clays Mill Road. You pay their exorbiant fees or settle for a payment plan if you are lucky.

  I am warning you in advance, be ready to shell out thousands of dollars for your $140 delinquent tax bill. once you pay in full, these attorneys will remove the lien for you. However nobody will know how much you paid for this privilage. The attorney fees are for your eyes only and it never appears in public domain.

The purpose of this blog is to publicize these fees and expose these scumbag attorneys that they cannot get away with what they do. Help us with our efforts, please send me your documents. I will be more than happy to post them on this blog and keep your identity confidential at the same time.

Let's stop these attorneys to make fortunes at the misery of Kentuckians.

Action needed from Kentucky Bar Association: Disbar the Bad players

Uniting the victims of property tax liens is essential. By uniting among us and fighting this abusive practice, we can create a change. Unfortunately the involved attorneys "consistently" and "willingly"  violating the Kentucky state laws stated in KRS 134.452 (Kentucky Revised Statues) to enrich themselves and their investor clients. Actions of these attorneys are menace to our society. I suggest the victims to take collective action and request the ethical committe of Kentucky Bar Association to disbar the following attorneys. Please join us and make an example that nobody is above the law.

Attorney's that should be reported to Ethical Committe of Kentucky Bar Association

Virgina Lawson

Billy Sherrow

Ryan Schwartz