Court Opinion

ID: 9734988
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:55:28.348159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:53.340279
License: Public Domain

CHEZEM, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The majority opinion concludes that a contingent fee cannot be imposed upon a third party without prior agreement and that the fee imposed here was unreasonable. I would agree in the context of private matters, where the collection agreement fees are between three willing interests, for instance: lender, borrower, and the collecting attorney. In a matter of delinquent tax collection, other interests are involved: treasurer, collecting attorney, delinquent taxpayer, and timely taxpayer. I decline to follow the Leibowitz, Berkemeier, and Waxman line of cases cited by the majority in a matter of delinquent tax collection.
*422In the tax collection case, the unwilling lenders are those taxpayers who have paid their taxes on time. By requiring the treasurer to use property tax funds to pay part of the delinquent tax collection attorney’s fees it would, in effect, force the timely taxpayer to pay for the miscreant’s failure. By using tax money to pay the difference between the attorney’s fee that would be reasonable for the individual property owner and the fee needed to actually collect the money from the class of delinquent taxpayers, the county will have less money in the general operating fund for government services. I think Ind.Code § 6-l.l-22-10(a) was written to make sure that those who failed to pay their taxes paid all of the costs of collecting the money. By using the statutory provision for collection process, the treasurer allowed the property owner to avoid the loss of the property to a tax sale.
I choose to look at the fee arrangement to determine if it is reasonable to the class of property owners as a whole rather than the individual property owner. If the amount an individual owed was small but the effort to collect required many hours’ work, I might then say that the fee was proportionately too large. Here, however, the contingency agreement allows a proportional assignment of costs of the total tax collection. The value of determining the reasonableness of the fee as to the class of delinquent taxpayers is that it will encourage tax collection for all parcels of property.
I also note that the same legislative act which provided for the liability of the taxpayer for reasonable attorney’s fees in tangible (real and personal) property collection enacted a provision for the collection of reasonable attorney’s fees in personal property tax collection.3 Another panel of this court has recently mentioned a trial court award of attorney’s fees in an amount equal to one-third of the delinquent personal property tax, plus a collection fee of ten percent. White v. Porter County Treasurer, 671 N.E.2d 1196, 1197 (Ind.Ct.App.1996).
The purpose of property taxes and a consistent collection structure are part of my consideration. Also, I note that there is no provision for the treasurer to pay attorney’s fees except as collected from the delinquent tax rolls. If the treasurer were to pay the difference between the individual fee and the fee needed to collect, the treasurer would be required to seek an appropriation from the county council for such fees, further burdening the collection process. I dissent.

. Ind.Code § 6-1.1-23-7 amended by P.L. 68-1993, SEC. 3. The amended statute reads in relevant part:
(a) With respect to the collection of delinquent personal property taxes, the county treasurer shall charge the following collection expenses to each delinquent taxpayer:
(6) Other reasonable expenses of collection, including:
(C) reasonable attorney’s fees or court costs incurred:
(i) in the collection process;
(b) The fees collected under this section are the property of the county and shall be deposited in the county general fund. The collection expenses incurred in connection with the levy upon and sale of personal property shaE be paid from the county general fund without prior appropriation.
(emphasis added).