Dickinson v. Tidd

137 F.2d 610, 1943 U.S. App. LEXIS 2859
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 5, 1943
DocketNo. 2711
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 137 F.2d 610 (Dickinson v. Tidd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dickinson v. Tidd, 137 F.2d 610, 1943 U.S. App. LEXIS 2859 (10th Cir. 1943).

Opinion

HUXMAN, Circuit Judge.

Purcell, Oklahoma, is a city of the first class, organized under a municipal charter adopted in accordance with Article 18, Section 3(a) of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma. The city created a street improvement district, levied benefit assessments against the property therein, and issued bonds to pay for the cost of the improvements. Certain installments against some of the property were not paid. The city clerk certified the delinquencies to the county treasurer, who placed the lots liable for such assessments on the delinquent tax list. At the November, 1935 tax sale, they were sold for both delinquent ad valorem taxes and delinquent special assessments. No one bid the required amount and they were accordingly bid in by the treasurer in the name of the county. At the regular tax resale, held in 1938, they were resold for both delinquent general taxes and special assessments. Again no one bid the required amount and they were bid off in the name of the chairman of the Board of County Commissioners and a statutory tax resale deed was issued to him and his successors in office.

Appellees, the owners of some of the bonds that have not been paid, instituted [612]*612this action, alleging that the resale proceedings were void for defects in the notices of sale and for the further reason that there was no statutory authority for the sale of the lots at resale for delinquent installments of special assessments. Appellees sought a decree determining that the resale did not extinguish the lien of delinquent special assessments and reforming the deeds to recite that they were subject to such assessments. This appeal is taken from a decree granting the relief prayed for.

While the court did not pass directly upon the validity of the tax sale notices, their invalidity is urged as a ground in support of the decision, and it is therefore necessary to consider them. Title 68 O.S.A. § 382 provides that the notice shall contain a notification “that all lands on which the taxes of such fiscal year remain due and unpaid will be sold, and of the time and place of the sale, and shall contain a list of the lands to be sold and the amount of taxes due.” The notice in question bore the caption : “Notice of Sale for Delinquent Taxes for Years of 1933 and 1934.” It stated that the property listed would be sold for the unpaid taxes for 1933 and 1934. It set out a description of the lots and lands to be sold, followed by a statement of the general taxes due on each lot. Following the listing of the general taxes, the notice listed paving taxes with respect to the various lots, in a manner of which the following is typical: “List of Paving Tax — City of Purcell, District No. 2. Lot 6 blk 48, 1923 $136.50, 1924 $148.66, 1925 $134.04, 1926 $199.88, 1927 $106.50, 1928 $94.11, 1929 $82.03, 1930 $70.94, 1931 $10.62, 1932 $51.15, total $1,004.43.”

It will be noted that the caption of the notice does not comport with the description of the paving taxes for which the property was sold in the latter part of the notice, the paving taxes listed being for the years 1923 to 1932, inclusive, while the caption refers only to delinquent taxes for 1933 and 1934. The sufficiency of the notice cannot, however, be determined from the caption alone. It must be read and considered in its entirety. When so read and considered, we have no difficulty in reaching the conclusion that it is valid, and that any defects are mere irregularities. In Chamberlain v. Davis, Okl.Sup., 130 P.2d 848, the notice of resale stated that the property was being sold to satisfy delinquent taxes for the years 1932 to 1935, inclusive. There were no 1933 delinquent taxes. In Henshaw v. Morris, 189 Okl. 603, 119 P.2d 85, property was sold in 1927 and resold in 1931. The resale notice stated that the property had been sold in 1928, not in 1927. In each case the Oklahoma 'Supreme Court held that the mistake was an irregularity and did not affect the validity of the sale.

The validity of the resale notice is also challenged. 68 O.S.A. § 432b provides that the notice shall contain “a description of the real estate to be sold, the name of the owner of said real estate as shown by the last tax rolls in the office of the County Treasurer * * The main attack levied at this notice is that it'gave the name of the record owner rather than the last owner as shown by the tax rolls. In Swearingen v. McCarten, 186 Okl. 241, 96 P.2d 1061, the notice of resale failed entirely to give the name of the owner. The tax rolls failed to give the name of any owner. The court sustained the validity of the sale. There is no showing here that there is a discrepancy in the ownership as shown by the record with that of the tax rolls. The defect is at most an irregularity, which, in our opinion, does "not affect the validity of the sale.

A more serious question is whether these special assessments are subject to resale and if they are, whether the resale extinguishes the lien.

It is well settled in Oklahoma that a municipal charter adopted in accordance with Art. 18, Sec. 3(a) of the constitution becomes the organic law of the municipality and that its provisions supersede all laws of the state in conflict with it relating to purely municipal matters.

As already pointed out, Purcell expressly adopted Section 722, Art. 5, Ch. 14, Compiled Laws of Oklahoma, 1909, being Art. 1, Ch. 10 of the Session Laws of 1907-OS, relating to street improvements. These statutory provisions thus became the organic law of the city. They were in force at the time the bonds in question were issued, became a part of the contract, and the rights of the parties must' be gauged by them.

Appellees’ position is that there is no authority in these statutory provisions authorizing the county treasurer to sell at resale property .subject to delinquent assessments for benefit improvements.

[613]*613Art. 1, Ch. 10 of the Oklahoma Session Laws of 1907-08 provides a comprehensive method for the improvement of streets and other public places within cities of the first class, for the creation of benefit districts, the assessment of benefits, and for the payment and collection of such assessments. It is especially provided that the city clerk shall promptly certify delinquent installments of assessments to the county treasurer, who is directed to place the sáme upon the delinquent tax list .of the county for the current year, and collect them as other delinquent taxes are collected, and then pay the proceeds to the city treasurer for proper disbursement.

Oklahoma also had at the time these bonds were issued a complete and comprehensive system for the collection of delinquent taxes.1 In general, it provided for the November sale,2 and for a resale where the property was bid in by the county and not redeemed within the statutory period of time. While the 1909 Act omitted the provision for the issuance of a resale tax deed, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has held that the provision for such a deed in a prior law was not repealed by the 1909 Act and was in full force and effect. McGrath v. Oklahoma City, 156 Okl. 34, 9 P.2d 711, 714.

When the organic law of the city directed the city clerk to certify the delinquent assessments to the county treasurer and directed him to place them on the delinquent tax list and collect them as he did other taxes, it in effect directed him to take the same steps for the collection of these assessments as he did in the collection of other taxes.

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137 F.2d 610, 1943 U.S. App. LEXIS 2859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dickinson-v-tidd-ca10-1943.