Michie v. Haas

1928 OK 53, 272 P. 883, 134 Okla. 57
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 24, 1928
Docket17935
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 1928 OK 53 (Michie v. Haas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Michie v. Haas, 1928 OK 53, 272 P. 883, 134 Okla. 57 (Okla. 1928).

Opinion

RILEY, J.

This action was brought by plaintiff in error, W. T. Michie, on December 8, 1925, against Evelyn Haas to quiet title to lots 35 and 36, block 5, Rosemont Height addition to the city of Tulsa, Okla.

The plaintiff was the owner of said real estate and obtained her title through conveyances from the original allottee of the Creek Nation and various mesne conveyances thereafter, the last of which vested title in plaintiff on April 9, 1912.

The cloud upon plaintiff’s title was caused by a tax deed executed by the county treasurer of Tulsa county on December 6. 1922, in pursuance of a resale tax sale made of said lots on November 27, 1922.

The outstanding resale tax deed held by the defendant, Evelyn Haas, shows on its face that said lots were sold at public auction on November 11, 1920, for taxes levied thereon for the year 1919; the land being liable for taxes and the taxes being duly assessed and the lots having been advertised for sale for said taxes and no bidder offering the amount due thereon, the same was bid in by the county treasurer on said date in t'he name of Tulsa county for the amount due on each parcel — “lot 35 * * * tax $6.42, for $40; lot 36 * * * tax $6.42, for $47; and the said lots not having been redeemed within two years from date of said sale, the said property was again offered for sale by said county treasurer at resale on the 27th day of November, 1922, after being “duly and legally advertised for sale at resale for said taxes, costs, penalties, and interest accrued' on same, * * * and sold to Evelyn Haas, the highest and best bidder,” etc.

The Judgment of the trial court was for-defendant, holding that the resale deed was valid on its face and that the plaintiff is barred by the statute of limitation.

Section 9753, C. O. S. 1921, barred the action unless the resale tax deed is void on its face. See, also, section 6, ch. 158 Session Laws 1923, providing:

“* * *And twelve months after said deed shall have been filed for record in the county clerk’s office, no action shall be commenced to void or set aside said deed.” Callender v. Brickner, 97 Okla. 37, 222 Pac. 531.

It is agreed that, according to the ruling of this court, the provisions in section 9744, C. O. S. 1921, requiring that notice of resale shall be given by the county treasurer once each week for four consecutive weeks preceding the sale, means 28 days, and is computed by excluding the first day of publication and including the day of sale.

It is heretofore set out that the deed in question recited as to the real estate “the same was duly and legally advertised.” Note the rule in Treese v. Ferguson, 120 Okla. 235, 251 Pac. 91:

“A resale tax deed, reciting as to notice of sale of the lands, the conclusion ‘the same were duly and legally advertised for sale at resale for the taxes,’ etc., is not void on its face because of failure to recite also the doing of prerequisite acts constituting such notice. Such deed, thus containing in substance what section 9750, C. O. S. 1921, requires as to notice, is presumptive evidence in all the courts of this state that all acts and proceedings as to the notice were duly performed by the proper officers. * * *”

Thus the aforementioned recital in the deed would be presumptive evidence that notice was given for 28 days prior to sale'. Likewise it appears from an examination of the deed that the publication of notice of resale was commenced prior to the expiration of the two-year redemption period, and the sole question remaining as to validity on the face of the deed is whether, under *59 the statutes then in force, such fact is. sufficient to render the deed void.

The statutes in force at the date of sale read as follows:

Section 9732, C. O. S. 1921:

“Time and' Place of Sale. On the first Monday in November in each year* * *the treasurer shall offer at public sale* * *all lands, town lots or other real property which shall be liable for taxes of any description for the preceding year, or years, and which shall remain due and unpaid.”

Section 9740, C. O. S. 1921:

“The county treasurer is hereby authorized at all tax sales made under the laws ■of this state, in case there are no other bidders offering the amount due, to bid off all or any real estate offered at said sale for the amount of taxes, penalty, interest and costs due and unpaid thereon, in the name of the county in which the sale takes place, the said county acquiring all the rights, both legal and equitable, that any other purchaser could acquire by reason of said purchase.”

Section 9743, C. O. S. 1921:

“Record of Purchase by County — Resale. Whenever the county treasurer of any county shall bid off any real estate in the name of his county, he shall make a note of such bid and purchase upon his sales record and if any real estate so purchased by the county shall remain unredeemed for a period of two years from date of sale, and no person shall offer to purchase same for the taxes, penalty and costs due thereon, the county treasurer shall proceed to advertise and sell such real estate at public auction as herein provided.”

Section 9744, C. O. S. 1921:

“Notice of Sale. The treasurer shall give notices of the sale of such real estate by the publication thereof once each week for four consecutive weeks preceding the sale, * * * provided, that sales provided for in this act shall be held on the fourth Mon-dav of November of each year in each county.”

And in this connection it is worthy of note that the Legislature seems to have gone as far as it can in its sphere of the triune division of governmental powers to establish a stability of tax deeds, for, in addition to providing tibe “form” statute, section 9752, C. O. S. 1921, and the “presumptive evidence” statute, section 9750, C. O. S. 1921, it provided a “liberal construction” statute, by enacting section 9751, C. O. S. 1921:

“* * *The rule that tax proceedings are to be strictly construed as against the tax purchaser shall not apply to proceedings under this act (article), but in all courts its provisions shall be liberally construed, to the end that its provisions, and all proceedings thereunder shall be sustained.”

Appellant contends that the advertisement should not commence to run until after the expiration of two years from the date of .original sale of the property.

We observe from the statutes cited that the sale must commence “on the first Monday in November,” and the resale must commence on the fourth Monday in November. It is also provided that when the real estate is bid in- by the county and it “shall remain unredeemed for a period of two years from date of sale, * * *the county treasurer shall proceed to advertise and sell such real estate at public auction as herein provided,” clearly contemplating that the basic step for the resale should be the stay period of two years before the resale, for otherwise at least the resale would necessarily involve a three-year period of redemption instead of the two as provided by statute, for the statute commands that the sale shall be held the first Monday in November.

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Bluebook (online)
1928 OK 53, 272 P. 883, 134 Okla. 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/michie-v-haas-okla-1928.