Chicago Gravel Co. v. Rosewell

This appeal requires us to determine whether a taxpayer who pays all real property tax bills sent to it, with no actual knowledge of any error in those tax bills, can be subjected to back taxes claimed as a result of the taxing authorities’ error. Plaintiff, Chicago Gravel Company (Chicago Gravel), owns certain real estate in Cook County, comprised of a gravel pit and abutting property. The practice of the assessor is to arbitrarily divide this contiguous property into a variety of tax parcels. The tax parcels are then given a permanent index number (PIN), which, pursuant to statute, becomes…