Miner v. Clinton County, NY

541 F.3d 464, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 18925, 2008 WL 4093705
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedSeptember 5, 2008
DocketDocket 07-1625-cv (L), 07-2461-cv (CON)
StatusPublished
Cited by182 cases

This text of 541 F.3d 464 (Miner v. Clinton County, NY) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miner v. Clinton County, NY, 541 F.3d 464, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 18925, 2008 WL 4093705 (2d Cir. 2008).

Opinion

JOSÉ A. CABRANES, Circuit Judge:

In two actions brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, plaintiffs Alexander and Lourdes Tupaz and Valerie and David Miner allege violations of their rights to due process and equal protection of the laws as a result of Clinton County’s enforcement of various foreclosure provisions of New York’s Real Property Tax Law. We consolidated their *467 cases on appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (Thomas J. McAvoy and Gary L. Sharpe, Judges) due to overlapping claims against the same defendants and now affirm the District Court’s entries of judgment in favor of the defendants on all claims.

As explained in greater detail below, plaintiffs do not have a due process right to actual notice of foreclosure. They are entitled to notice that is reasonably calculated under the circumstances to reach the intended recipients, alert them to a pending foreclosure, and advise them of an opportunity to be heard. Clinton County did not violate plaintiffs’ right to due process where, as here, the County sent a notice of foreclosure by certified mail and reasonably believed that the notice had been delivered. Plaintiffs were not entitled to additional notice of default judgment, to an additional opportunity to redeem their property after foreclosure, or to a share of any profits from a tax sale for the same reason: Clinton County provided plaintiffs with the process they were due by sending a notice of foreclosure that “was reasonably calculated to reach the intended recipient when sent.” Jones v. Flowers, 547 U.S. 220, 226, 126 S.Ct. 1708, 164 L.Ed.2d 415 (2006). We also find no violation of the right to equal protection of the laws in the County’s refusal to permit taxpayers to redeem their property by paying the back-taxes after default judgment has been entered or its refusal to grant plaintiffs a share of any surplus from a tax sale because plaintiffs have not submitted evidence showing adverse treatment on an impermissible basis compared with persons who were similarly situated. Finally, we conclude that the County’s requirement that long-overdue tax payments be submitted in the form of cash, money order, or certified check does not violate due process.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise stated, the following facts are not disputed.

The Tupazes

The Tupazes purchased two undeveloped properties in the Town of Platts-burgh, Clinton County, New York, in 1987. Since that time, these properties have been the subject of three tax foreclosure proceedings. The instant dispute arises from the alleged failure of defendants Clinton County and Janet Duprey, the Clinton County Treasurer, to give adequate notice of the foreclosure associated with unpaid property taxes from 2002.

Between May 2002 and February 2003, defendants sent five letters by first class mail to the Tupazes notifying them of then-overdue taxes. See Tupaz v. Clinton County, 499 F.Supp.2d 182, 184 (N.D.N.Y.2007). The final letter, sent on February 11, 2003, warned the Tupazes that if their 2002 taxes were not paid by October 10, 2003, the County would initiate foreclosure proceedings. Each of the letters was addressed to the Tupazes at their home in Staten Island, New York — the address that appeared on record in the county tax rolls and where defendants had sent previous notices of foreclosure. Id. None of the letters were returned as undeliverable. Id. The Tupazes contend that they never received these letters, although they acknowledge that the County’s record of their home address was correct.

Having received no response from, the Tupazes, in October 2003, defendants included the Tupazes in a list of all delinquent taxpayers to whom they sent a Notice and Petition of Foreclosure (the “Notice” or “Notice of Foreclosure”), indicating that the final date for redemption of the property by paying the overdue taxes was January 16, 2004. Id. The *468 Notice was sent to the Tupazes’ Staten Island address via certified mail. 1 Id. Defendants subsequently received a delivery receipt for the Notice of Foreclosure, indicating that the letter was delivered on October 16. The delivery receipt did not contain a legible signature from the recipient indicating who received the package. Instead, the “Signature” box had a line drawn within it and did not otherwise contain a readily identifiable signature. In addition to the Notice, defendants published notice in two Clinton County newspapers pursuant to New York Real Property Tax Law § 1124. Id.

While the parties dispute whether the Tupazes received the Notice, there is no dispute that defendants believed that it had been delivered. See id. at 185. Defendant Janet Duprey, the Clinton County Treasurer, attested that upon receiving the receipt, she presumed that “the mailing ha[d] indeed been delivered and received.” Id. (quoting Affidavit of Janet L. Duprey (“Duprey Affidavit”) ¶ 14). Duprey further “assumed that the plaintiffs had indeed received the Notice” because they “had received numerous prior letters and warnings” at the same address. (Duprey Affidavit ¶ 22.) She testified that, pursuant to standard practice for confirming illegible signatures, the County Treasurer’s office confirmed, by checking the United States Postal Service website, that the Notice was delivered on October 16, 2003 within the zip code applicable to the Tu-pazes’ residence. 2 After comparing the “signature” on the October 16 delivery receipt to previous delivery receipts for notices of foreclosure that had been sent to the Tupazes’ Staten Island address, she concluded that previous notices had been accepted with equally indecipherable markings. According to Duprey, it was “not at all unusual to receive a certified mail receipt with an illegible signature or simply a mark in the signature box indicating its receipt.” (Duprey Affidavit, ¶ 14 (emphasis added).) She was not aware of any other factor that would have suggested a failure to deliver the Notice.

The Tupazes did not pay the overdue taxes, redeem the property, or otherwise respond by the appointed date, and the County initiated foreclosure proceedings in the County Court of Clinton County. On February 20, 2004, the County Court entered a default judgment of foreclosure against the Tupazes as well as several other taxpayers who had not redeemed their property. Tupaz, 499 F.Supp.2d. at 186. The County did not send the Tu-pazes a notice of judgment 3 and the Tu- *469 pazes learned of the foreclosure in March 2004, when Mr. Tupaz called the County Treasurer’s office and was told that the County had foreclosed on the properties. Id. The Tupazes contend that this call was the first time they learned that they owed taxes and that the County had instituted foreclosure proceedings. Duprey attested that, during this phone call, Mr.

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541 F.3d 464, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 18925, 2008 WL 4093705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miner-v-clinton-county-ny-ca2-2008.