Langford v. De Armond

208 N.E.2d 692, 137 Ind. App. 439, 1965 Ind. App. LEXIS 601
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 7, 1965
Docket20,113
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 208 N.E.2d 692 (Langford v. De Armond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Langford v. De Armond, 208 N.E.2d 692, 137 Ind. App. 439, 1965 Ind. App. LEXIS 601 (Ind. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinions

Smith, J.

This is an action instituted in the Madison Circuit Court by the appellants against the appellees to quiet title to real estate against the appellees’ tax title deed.

The appeal was originally filed in the Supreme Court of Indiana for the reason that the appellants were questioning the constitutionality of §4, Ch. 224 of the Acts of 1941. This section in substance provided that no action to contest the validity of any tax title deed shall be brought after the expiration of [441]*441one year from the date of execution of said deed. Because said statute was repealed by the Acts of 196S, ch. 280, §1002/ the appellants subsequently filed in the Supreme Court a waiver of this constitutional question and petitioned to transfer this cause to the Appellate Court of Indiana. Pursuant to Burns’ §4-214 (1963 Supplement) this cause was then ordered transferred to the Appellate Court.

The relevant facts of this case, as evidenced by the ■transcript of the record evidence, are that in 1950 a special assessment for a ditch construction was levied against the property in question, in the name of the then owner, one Roy A. Somers. In that same year Somers deeded the property to one George N. Yust, who in turn deeded the property to a Harold Gallamore. In 1952 Gallamore executed a warranty deed to the appellants to the property. The ditch assessment was never paid and remained delinquent. j

Pursuant to Acts 1919, ch. 59, §259, p. 198, as amended, the same being Burns’ 64-2202, on May. 19, 1951 notice was published in the Anderson Herald and the Anderson Daily Bulletin certifying that an assessment sheet had been prepared and placed in the hands of the Madison County Treasurer for collection of said ditch assessment. Notice of a tax sale of said property on which the ditch assessment was levied was advertised by the Madison County Auditor in the same newspapers on March 20, 1954, March 27, 1954 and April 3, 1954. The name of Roy A. Somers appeared in said notice as the record title holder. The record evidence also disclosed that a registered letter was sent to Somers advising him of the tax sale.

The tax sale was held on April Í2, 1954 and the appellees submitted the highest bid on the property [442]*442and in turn were issued a tax certificate to said property.

The statutory two year period of redemption expired on April 13, 1956; and, on that day, the appellees presented themselves at the Madison County Auditor’s office and were issued a tax deed to said property. However, they did not take physical possession of the property nor did they notify the appellants, who remained in possession, that thé appellees had been issued a tax deed to said property. The appellants remained in possession and continued to pay the annual taxes levied against said property and during such time made substantial improvements to the property. At the time they attempted to pay the 1957 taxes, due and payable in the spring of .1958, they were informed by the Madison County Treasurer that the appellees had been issued a deed to said property.

Pursuant to Acts 1919, ch. 59, §293, p. 198, the same being Burns’ 64-2240, the appellants’ attorney tendered $45.13: to the appellees, representing the amount they had paid together with statutory interest and requested a deed of release, which was refused by the appellees. The appellants .then tendered $45.13 to the Clerk of the Madison Circuit Court for the benefit of the appellees and filed this cause of action.

The issues were formed by the appellants’ amended complaint which alleges the invalidity of the appellees’ tax title deed for the following reasons:

1) that at the time of the tax sale the appellants were the duly recorded owners of the real estate in question and they had paid all of their taxes shown upon their tax receipt to be due and payable for all preceding years;
2) that the Auditor of Madison County at the time of the advertisement of the tax sale improperly advertised the delinquency under a name other than the appellants whose names are described as being owners on the tax duplicate;
[443]*4433) that appellants, as owners, were never at any time given notice of the tax sale as prescribed by law by demand upon them for payment by registered United States mail or by call, either by the County Treasurer or his deputy;
4) that the appellees, through fraud, actual or constructive, concealed their tax title deed from appellants until in excess of one year from the time appellees were issued their tax title deed by the County Auditor.

The appellees filed an answer in three paragraphs to said amended complaint. The first paragraph, in compliance with Rule 1-3 of the Supreme Court, denied the alleged invalidity of the tax title deed. A second paragraph, in the form of a special answer, denied the duty of the appellees to give notice to the appellants of the tax sale. The third paragraph of affirmative answér raised the issue of the statute of limitations as a bar to the action, contending that the appellants were required to institute an action to contest the validity of the appellees’ tax title deed within one year after its execution.

The appellants filed a reply in denial to the second paragraph of the appellees’ affirmative answer. The appellants further filed a reply to appellees’ third paragraph of affirmative answer, denying therein the allegations thereof claiming that the allegations of fraud contained in the appellants’ complaint tolled the running of the statute of limitations.

The appellees filed a cross-complaint against the appellants seeking to quiet title to said real estate in themselves to which cross-complaint the appellants filed an answer alleging therein the invalidity of the appellees’ title by virtue of the invalid tax sale.

Thereafter the appellees filed an affidavit for change of venue from the county, and were granted [444]*444such change. The cause was then venued to the Grant Circuit Court.

Trial was had by jury, and, at the close of -the presentation of the appellánts’ evidence, the appellees filed a motion for a directed verdict on the issue of fraud, which motion was sustained by the court. The court then- removed the consideration of the remaining issues from the jury and made a finding for the appellees and entered judgment thereon.

The appellants in compliance with Supreme Court Rule 2-6 filed their motion for a new trial, which was overruled and judgment was entered for the appellees. The overruling of appellants’ motion for a new trial is the sole assignment of error.

One of the specific errors alleged by the appellants in . their motion for new trial is that the decision is contrary to law.

The appellants allege that the Madison County Auditor did not comply with the statutory requirements pertaining to the sale of real property for taxes and that therefore the tax deed issued to the appellees is void. In particular the appellants allege that there was no notice given to them of the tax sale as the auditor did not give notice to the record title holder appearing on the tax duplicate in the auditor's office but rather gave notice to the record title holder appearing on the ditch assessment sheet, which procedure is not in compliance with the notice requirement in the statute governing tax sales; and therefore appellees’ tax deed is void.

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Langford v. De Armond
208 N.E.2d 692 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
208 N.E.2d 692, 137 Ind. App. 439, 1965 Ind. App. LEXIS 601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langford-v-de-armond-indctapp-1965.