Pawlik v. Shyang-Fenn Deng

412 P.3d 68
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 1, 2018
DocketNo. 71055
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 412 P.3d 68 (Pawlik v. Shyang-Fenn Deng) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pawlik v. Shyang-Fenn Deng, 412 P.3d 68 (Neb. 2018).

Opinion

By the Court, GIBBONS, J.:

*70In this appeal we are asked to interpret NRS 271.595, a statute governing redemption of property sold for default on city tax assessments. The issue is how to interpret two distinct redemption periods in NRS 271.595 : one that creates a clear redemption period of two years for residential properties, and a second that creates an ambiguous 60-day redemption window after notice that the certificate of sale holder will demand a deed for the property. The parties dispute whether the 60-day period begins at the end of the first two-year redemption period, or whether the 60-day period may run concurrently at the end of the two-year period. The district court read NRS 271.595 as creating two distinct redemption periods that cannot overlap and dismissed appellant Paul Pawlik's quiet title action and petition for a writ of mandamus. We agree with the district court, and, to protect the redemption rights of former owners, we hold that NRS 271.595 creates two consecutive redemption periods.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Respondents Shyang-Fenn Deng and Linda Hsiang-Yu Chiang Deng, as trustees of their revocable trust (the Dengs), defaulted on special assessments on their Las Vegas residential real property, which entered delinquency. As a result, the property underwent a duly noticed and authorized sale, under NRS Chapter 271. On January 27, 2014, Pawlik (or his predecessor-in-interest) purchased the real property at the sale and was issued a sales certificate. Under NRS 271.595(1), the Dengs were then entitled to a two-year redemption period from that date.1 On January 7, 2016, Pawlik began attempting to serve the Dengs with notice of the upcoming expiration of the redemption period and Pawlik's intent to apply for a deed pursuant to NRS 271.595(3).

On March 14, 2016, 47 days after the Dengs' two-year redemption period expired and 67 days after Pawlik began attempting service, Pawlik applied to respondent the Las Vegas City Treasurer for issuance of a deed to the property. The Treasurer refused to issue the deed to Pawlik, and the Dengs later redeemed on April 6, 2016, by making full payment to the City of Las Vegas. Pawlik subsequently filed a complaint to quiet title and applied for a writ of mandamus in the district court compelling the Treasurer to issue the deed. In turn, the Dengs filed a motion to dismiss. The district court granted the Dengs' motion to dismiss and denied Pawlik's petition for a writ of mandamus, interpreting NRS 271.595 to require that the 60-day notice and additional redemption period begin after the end of the two-year redemption period. Because Pawlik had attempted service on the Dengs prior to the end of the two-year redemption period and because this provided the Dengs with less than two years and 60 days of redemption, the district court found Pawlik had provided the Dengs with premature and ineffective notice. Accordingly, the Dengs were allowed to redeem their property. Pawlik now appeals that order.

DISCUSSION

NRS 271.595(3) creates an additional 60-day notice and redemption period

This court reviews questions of statutory interpretation de novo.

*71Pankopf v. Peterson, 124 Nev. 43, 46, 175 P.3d 910, 912 (2008) ; City of Las Vegas v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 124 Nev. 540, 554, 188 P.3d 55, 58 (2008) ("Even in the context of a writ proceeding, we review questions of statutory interpretation de novo."). "When the language of a statute is clear on its face, this court will not go beyond the statute's plain language." J.E. Dunn Nw., Inc. v. Corus Constr. Venture, LLC, 127 Nev. 72, 79, 249 P.3d 501, 505 (2011) (internal quotations and alterations omitted). However, if the statutory language is subject to two or more reasonable interpretations, the statute is ambiguous, and we then look beyond the statute to the legislative history and interpret the statute in a reasonable manner "in light of the policy and the spirit of the law." Id. (internal quotations omitted); see Pankopf, 124 Nev. at 46, 175 P.3d at 912.

Pawlik argues the district court's interpretation of NRS 271.595 is incorrect because the statute contains no language mandating that the 60-day notice period begin only after the two-year redemption period expires. In response, the Dengs argue Pawlik's interpretation would allow a certificate holder to completely overlap the 60-day period with the two-year period, thus rendering the additional 60-day redemption period meaningless. However, Pawlik counters that attaching the 60-day period to the end of the two-year period causes "at least 26 mandatory months to exist in a statute that contemplates 24 months of redemption period."

NRS 271.595(3) states "[i]f no redemption is made within the period of redemption as determined pursuant to subsection 1, the treasurer shall, on demand of the purchaser or the purchaser's assigns,... execute to the purchaser or the purchaser's assigns a deed to the property." This provision is plainly a mandate to the treasurer to execute a deed once the certificate holder has fulfilled the requirements of NRS 271.595.

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Bluebook (online)
412 P.3d 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pawlik-v-shyang-fenn-deng-nev-2018.