By Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland
May 19, 2008

Cleaning up neighborhoods has been one of the goals of Houston Mayor Bill White’s administration. And he has been very successful in this endeavor, working in partnership with the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, to turn abandoned and blighted properties into affordable housing. In 2007 they received one of the USCM Public-Private Partnership awards for their efforts at inner city urban renewal with Project Houston Hope. To date, over 900 properties have been reclaimed, thus making it possible for more people to achieve their American dreams in Houston.

Part of that process has involved closing down and, in some cases, demolishing hotels that have become nuisances. These hotels are often in poorer parts of town, owe considerable amounts in delinquent property taxes and serve as havens for drugs, prostitution and other crimes. And, many of the delinquent business taxpayers seek to protect their assets in bankruptcy court in order to avoid payment once they’ve been sued for back taxes. That’s when it pays to have a good bankruptcy attorney on your side.

Linebarger Goggan regularly assists the city with problematic tracts like these through its delinquent tax collection program. The firm has been providing delinquent tax collection services, including litigation and bankruptcy to Houston since 1993, collecting over $370 million in taxes penalties and interest (as of June 30 2007).

One derelict hotel owner, considered a “serial filer” with several properties and over $90,000 in delinquent taxes learned that lesson the hard way and actually asked to have his case dismissed once he realized that he could not circumvent the process through the bankruptcy court. In the case of many other blighted hotel properties, Linebarger Goggan’s bankruptcy team has pushed for revised debtors’ plans that effectively closed the bankruptcy loophole. When the owners defaulted new owners purchased the properties and all the delinquent taxes were paid. In other cases, they’ve been instrumental in converting Chapter 11 properties to Chapter 7 to expedite the foreclosure and sale to another owner.

The firm has provided delinquent property tax collection services for over 30 years and has managed to protect its client’s interests in bankruptcy court in some of the biggest bankruptcy cases in the country, including Enron, K-Mart, Montgomery Ward and MCI-WorldComm.

Linebarger Goggan is a USCM Platinum Partner, with offices from coast-to-coast to serve its public sector clients. The firm currently represents hundreds of cities in the collection of their delinquent property taxes, and other types of types of receivables such as past due traffic and parking citations. They will recover an estimated $1 billion in additional revenue for their clients this year alone.

For additional information about Linebarger Goggan, contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland at 301-460-5251 or kweyland@usmayors.org