State fights WaMu for $29 million in taxes
Portland Business Journal by Matthew Kish , Business Journal staff writer
Date: Monday, September 24, 2012, 5:08pm PDT
Enlarge Image
Ellen Rosenblum will replace Attorney General John Kroger, who is leaving the position to become president of Reed College.
Rosenblum
Matthew Kish
Business Journal staff writer- Portland Business Journal
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum wants to collect $29.3 million in unpaid taxes from the trust liquidating Washington Mutual Inc., the giant savings and loan that failed in September 2008.
The trust has argued that Washington Mutual Inc. "never operated in the state of Oregon" and the money is owed by the bank's defunct savings and loan arm, Washington Mutual Bank. It says the deadline for collecting from the savings and loan arm passed in December 2008.
Attorneys from Rosenblum's office will argue in a Delaware bankruptcy court on Wednesday that the trust owes Oregon the money because the state was one of the most "significant markets" for Washington Mutual Inc.
Washington Mutual held the third-largest share of bank deposits in Oregon in 2008, according to the Portland Business Journal's 2009 Book of Lists. In addition to more than $4 billion in Oregon deposits, it had 67 branches in the state.
Rosenblum's attorneys have argued in court filings that there's little difference between the holding company and the defunct banking arm.