In re Upset Sale of Properties

533 A.2d 487, 111 Pa. Commw. 33, 1987 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2602
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 9, 1987
DocketAppeal, No. 2261 C.D. 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 533 A.2d 487 (In re Upset Sale of Properties) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Upset Sale of Properties, 533 A.2d 487, 111 Pa. Commw. 33, 1987 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2602 (Pa. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Opinion by

Senior Judge Barbieri,

This is an appeal by the Tax Claim Unit of Northampton County (TCU) from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County dismissing TCUs exceptions and entering judgment in favor of Windrift Real Estate Associates (Windrift) in the amount of $901.25. Windrifts claim against TCU arose out of a tax claim sale held on November 17, 1983, whereat Windrift purchased a property which sale was later voided by the common pleas court on the basis of a defective notice sent to the property owner by TCU. The common pleas court held that Windrift was dam[35]*35aged by TCUs negligence and entitled to recover its costs of borrowing the funds used to purchase the property at the voided sale. We will affirm.

The material facts were stipulated by the parties and are as follows. In 1983, the TCU notified Alyce Skibo that claims for delinquent taxes had become absolute and that the property would be sold to satisfy those delinquent taxes. The TCU held an auction on November 17, 1983, at which auction Windrift was the successful bidder on Skibo s property for $25,200.00. The tax sale was made subject to certain publicized terms.1 In Janu[36]*36ary, -1984, Skibo filed objections to the sale based in part on the TCUs failure to adequately inform her of her redemption rights, specifically her right to apply for a one-year extension of the redemption period granted under Northampton County Ordinance No. 72. On October 2, 1984, the common pleas court sustained Skibos exceptions and set aside the sale of her property at the November 17, 1983, auction. Subsequently, the TCU refunded to Windrift the $25,200.00 purchase price as well as $1,999.62 in interest that the TCU had earned on the purchase price while it was held in escrow. Windrift sought from the TCU reimbursement for its entire interest expense of $2,900.87, as well as counsel fees in the amount of $1,992.50 that it expended in defending its interest in the sale property during Skibos challenge to the sale. The common pleas court held that the TCU negligently foiled to provide Skibo with the proper notice as required by law and that Windrifts additional interest expense incurred in borrowing the funds to purchase Skibos property at the tax sale was reasonably foreseeable, making the TCU liable to Windrift for the entire amount of its interest expense incurred, $2,900.87, less the interest TCU earned on the escrow funds that were already paid to Windrift, $1,999.62, leaving a liability of $901.25, upon which the common pleas court entered judgment in fovor of Wind-rift against the TCU. The court denied Windrifts claim for attorneys fees.

The sole issue presented in this appeal is whether a tax collection unit of a municipality is liable to a disappointed purchaser for costs the purchaser incurred in [37]*37bidding on and purchasing property at the units tax sale where, through the negligence of the tax collection unit, the sale is voided and the purchaser does not obtain the property it successfully bid upon.2 The TCU argues that there is no right of reimbursement for costs incurred by a disappointed purchaser at a tax sale if the sale is later held to be invalid. In the alternative, the TCU argues that if there is such a right of reimbursement, it must be limited to the funds earned by the TCU while the purchase price is held in escrow.

There is no serious question that a disappointed purchaser at a tax sale cannot recover its costs incurred in participating in that sale from the property owner if the sale is later held to be invalid. Fidei v. Underwood, 291 Pa. Superior Ct. 375, 435 A.2d 1275 (1981); Gaul v. McLaughlin, 207 Pa. Superior Ct. 434, 217 A.2d 757 (1966). In Fidei, however, the Superior Court held that a disappointed purchaser of property has no right of reimbursement against the true owners where those owners were not notified of the tax sale and the costs were incurred by the purchaser without the owners’ knowledge, request or consent. 291 Pa. Superior Ct. at 380-81, 435 A.2d at 1277-78. There, the owners were the heirs of the former record owner of the property and [38]*38the county assessor had never recorded the heirs as the owners of the property in question, still listing the decedent, who died in 1947, as the owner, as late as 1956. The facts in Gaul are similar; there the record owner had died intestate in 1934 with a list of heirs being filed with the Letters of Administration that same year. The assessment office also listed the property as belonging to a “James McLaughlin,” wherein it was in feet owned by “John J. McLaughlin.” The McLaughlin heirs received no notice of the 1950 tax sale at which time the property was sold. The sale was voided in 1961 when the heirs challenged the purchasers quiet title action. The common pleas court ordered the heirs to reimburse the purchaser for all taxes paid since the sale as well as all monies expended by the purchaser at the tax sale. The Superior Court reversed holding that the purchaser, not being legally obligated to expend any monies on the property, had the status of a volunteer. As such, the Superior Court held that it is well established law that volunteers have no right to reimbursement. See also Lohrs Estate, 132 Pa. Superior Ct. 125, 129, 200 A. 135, 136 (1938).

In the case at bar, however, a different set of circumstances is present. Here, the disappointed purchaser is seeking reimbursement for costs expended not from the true owner of the property, but from the municipal agency whose negligence caused the tax sale to be voided. In order for the TCU’s negligence to impose liability upon it for damages the voided sale caused Windrift, the TCU must owe some kind of duty to Windrift. If the TCU owed Windrift no duty, then its negligence in failing to properly notify the property owner of her redemption rights does not impose any liability upon it for Windrifts damages no matter how foreseeable those damages may have been. See e.g., Morena v. South Hills Health System, 501 Pa. 634, 462 A.2d 680 [39]*39(1983); Dorn v. Leibowitz, 387 Pa. 335, 127 A.2d 734 (1957).

We begin our analysis of whether a municipal tax claim unit owes a duty to prospective bidders at its tax sales by noting that our Supreme Court has held that the presumption that acts of public officials are regular is fully applicable to tax sales. Hughes v. Chaplin, 389 Pa. 93, 132 A.2d 200 (1957). Thus, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, courts presume that taxing authorities comply with the applicable statutory requirements prior to placing a property for sale to satisfy delinquent taxes. Pennsylvania Bank & Trust Co., Youngsville Branch v. Dickey, 232 Pa. Superior Ct. 224, 335 A.2d 483 (1975). By inviting prospective buyers to bid at its tax auction, the TCU is representing or warranting to those prospective buyers that the statutory requirements for conducting such a sale have been met and that the successful bidder will be buying a parcel of real estate, not a lawsuit.

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533 A.2d 487, 111 Pa. Commw. 33, 1987 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-upset-sale-of-properties-pacommwct-1987.