Robertson v. Stonecreek Builders, LLC

200 So. 3d 851, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1540, 2016 WL 4198241
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 10, 2016
DocketNo. 50,798-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 200 So. 3d 851 (Robertson v. Stonecreek Builders, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robertson v. Stonecreek Builders, LLC, 200 So. 3d 851, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1540, 2016 WL 4198241 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

PITMAN, J.

Defendant/Appellant Stonecreek Builders, LLC, appeals the judgment of the trial court in favor of Plaintiff/Appellee Frank Spencer Robertson, which annulled both a tax adjudication deed pertaining to certain property owned by Plaintiff in Cad-do Parish from Plaintiff and a co-owner to the Parish of Caddo (“the Parish”) dated August 4, 2000, and a cash deed from the Parish to Defendant, dated December 10, 2010. For the following reasons, the judgment is affirmed in part, amended in part and remanded for further proceedings.

FACTS

In 1982, Plaintiff and Beulah Carter Gladney1 bought some property described as Lot 23, North Colony Estates, Unit No. 1, Caddo Parish. The street address of the home is 6925 North Colony Drive, Shreveport, Louisiana. Plaintiff built a house on the property, moved in and filed for a homestead exemption, which he was granted. Without proper notice to Plaintiff, the Parish revoked his homestead exemption in 1999, and, in 2000, also without notice, adjudicated the property to itself for Plaintiffs alleged failure to pay 1999 property taxes.

In 2010, the Parish sold the property to Defendant, and Defendant began eviction proceedings against Plaintiff. Plaintiff filed this suit seeking nullification of the revocation of his homestead exemption, nullification of the 2000 adjudication to the Parish and nullification of the 2010 sale of the property to Defendant. In his petition, Plaintiff claimed that he never received notice of any of the pertinent actions taking place with regard to the homestead exemption revocation, the adjudication to the Parish or the sale to Defendant and, therefore, claimed that all of these actions were absolute nullities. He alleged that no ad valorem taxes were, or [853]*853should have been, due on his property for 1999.

With its answer, which simply denied the allegations of Plaintiffs petition, Defendant filed an exception of no right and no cause of action and an exception of nonjoinder of a party; however, it failed to name in its exception the party which had not been joined. The exception of no cause of action was overruled by the trial court. The trial court sustained the exception of nonjoinder of parties and ordered that the Parish be joined as a party defendant. A supplemental petition was filed naming the Parish as a defendant. Defendant and the Parish both filed answers. The Parish pled that it does not conduct tax sales of property; rather, they are conducted by the Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office as Ex-Officio Tax Collector.2

Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that Plaintiff was prohibited by La. Const. Art. 7, § 25(C), from obtaining an annulment of the 2000 adjudication because the time period for seeking that relief had long since passed. The Parish filed a similar motion for summary judgment. Both motions for summary judgment were denied.

On September 19, 2012, a bench trial was had and the following evidence was adduced.

Plaintiff testified that he and Ms. Carter Gladney bought the lot in the early 1980s and that it was just a vacant wooded lot. In 1985 or 1986, he built his house there by himself and applied for a homestead exemption. Ms. Carter Gladney never lived with him and she left some time in the 1980s. He eventually married someone else.

Plaintiff further testified, that, in 1999, he was arrested for DWI in Arkansas and spent three months there in jail. When he returned to his home, his mailbox had been knocked down, but he replaced it within two to three days. He stated that people destroying his mailbox was a continuing problem.

Plaintiff also testified that he is 70 years old and that he is a former mechanic.for the City of Shreveport. He injured his back, however, and is now disabled. He stated he waits on his porch for his mail to be delivered, which usually arrives between 10:30 a.m. ánd 1:00 p.m. He lives with his girlfriend of 13 years, and has lived at the house continually since it was built except for the times when he was “locked up” for DWI, which he admits has happened 5 times in the last 30 years.

Plaintiff stated that he discovered that the tax assessor had cancelled his homestead exemption when he went to apply for a loan. When he was asked what year that occurred,' he was unclear, first stating it was in 1989, then stating it was 1999, and then saying, “Yes, I think it was '99, Judge. I ain’t been right since this happened.” He further stated that he only found out that his property was transferred to the Parish in 2006.3 He did not owe taxes when his homestead exemption was in effect. He set up a payment plan to attempt to pay the taxes he was said to owe, but he did not follow through with it because he did not have the money to do so and he was “locked up” again.

Plaintiff also testified that it was not until January 4, 2010, that he discovered Defendant was making a claim of owner[854]*854ship of his property after he found a notice of eviction on his door. He stated that he had never received any notice from the tax assessor that his homestead exemption was cancelled, no notice prior to 2004 that his property had been adjudicated to the Parish, and no notice in 2010 regarding unpaid taxes on the property or the sale to Defendant. He also stated that he never received any type of notice from Defendant and never saw any published notices in any newspaper regarding his property.

On cross-examination, Defendant’s attorney introduced several documents, including a certified letter from the Sheriff as Tax Collector for the Parish, which informed Plaintiff that, as of May 11, 2000, he owed $522.17 in taxes for the year 1999, and which notified him that, if the taxes were not paid within 20 days, the Sheriff would advertise and sell the property to satisfy the judgment against him. This letter was marked “Return to Sender” and “undeliverable as addressed, unable to forward.” Plaintiff testified that he had never seen or received that letter. He stated that he had received certified letters in the past and knew that he needed to sign to accept certified mail. He testified that he never saw any notices printed in the newspaper in June and July 2000 stating that he owed taxes. Further, he denied ever seeing a certified letter which had been returned and which had a tax deed attached to it. He never saw the cash sale of adjudicated property from the Parish to Defendant. He stated that he never received notice of the sale of his property for taxes. After he received the notice of eviction in 2010, he attempted to begin making payments for monies allegedly owed.

Plaintiffs girlfriend, Bertha Coollins, who has lived at the subject property since 2000, testified that Plaintiff never received any letters regarding homestead exemption, taxes or any other problems with ownership of the house. She stated that Plaintiff is diligent about his mail and knew where the deed to his house was located. In fact, when the eviction notice was placed on the door, Plaintiff was able to locate a copy of his deed from a drawer. She testified that, in 2000, at a time when Plaintiff was in jail, he asked her to go make a payment on some taxes.

Ruthie Jenkins, who is Plaintiffs sister, testified that Plaintiff had been living on the subject property continually since the 1980s. It was stipulated to by counsel that Robert Robertson, Plaintiffs brother, would also testify that Plaintiff had always lived at the subject property.

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200 So. 3d 851, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1540, 2016 WL 4198241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robertson-v-stonecreek-builders-llc-lactapp-2016.