Chicago Bank of Commerce v. Amalgamated Trust & Savings Bank (In Re Memorial Estates, Inc.)

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

NORDBERG, District Judge.

A bank holds a mortgage on a cemetery. The cemetery fails to make the mortgage payments and attempts to sell most of its assets, including “unused burial spaces,” to a third party. The third party operates the cemetery, sells “unused burial spaces,” and keeps the proceeds, claiming that the “unused burial spaces” are not covered by the bank’s mortgage. The bank then brings an action in state court to foreclose on the cemetery. One can imagine a host of ghostly legal issues, but none arises in this case.

The central issue is whether the…