Yellowstone Investment & Development Co. v. Yellowstone County

654 P.2d 508, 201 Mont. 290, 1982 Mont. LEXIS 983
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 24, 1982
DocketNo. 81-511
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 654 P.2d 508 (Yellowstone Investment & Development Co. v. Yellowstone County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yellowstone Investment & Development Co. v. Yellowstone County, 654 P.2d 508, 201 Mont. 290, 1982 Mont. LEXIS 983 (Mo. 1982).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE SHEEHY

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Yellowstone County appeals from a summary judgment entered against it in the District Court, Thirteenth Judicial District, Yellowstone County. The summary judgment determined that certain tax deeds obtained by the county were invalid. We affirm the determination of the District Court.

Edward L. Bond was the record owner of Lots 1, 6, 7 and 8 of Block 4 of Spring Valley Subdivision, Yellowstone County, Montana, in the month of October 1979. Back taxes of $4,338.64 were due for Lot 1, and $4,461.04 for Lot 8. On August 22, 1979, the county clerk of Yellowstone County made written notice of application for tax deed for the lots, which written notice indicated that Bond’s right of redemption would expire on October 22,1979, and that Yellowstone County as purchaser would apply for tax deeds on October 23, 1979.

On August 23, 1979, the county clerk mailed copies of the notice of application for tax deed by certified mail, in separate envelopes, one to Bond, addressed to him at 490 Indian Trail Road, Billings, Montana, and another notice to L. A. Builders, Inc., at 206 N. 29th Street, Billings, Montana. The envelope addressed to L. A. Builders was delivered on August 24, 1979, and the county received a receipt acknowledging the receipt by L. A. Builders, Inc. of the notice. However, the certified mail envelope addressed to Bond at 490 Indian Trail Road was returned “unclaimed” by the post office.

At the same time as the mailings, the county clerk caused publication in the Laurel Outlook, a newspaper published [292]*292in Laurel, Montana, of a notice of application for tax deed against L. A. Builders, Inc. and Edward L. Bond, which written notices were printed and published on August 22 and August 29, 1979.

On October 11, 1979, Edward L. Bond deeded his interest in the real estate here in question to Yellowstone Investment and Development Co., Inc., by filing deeds of record in the office of the county clerk of Yellowstone County.

On October 23, 1979, the county clerk executed a written affidavit and proof of service in connection with the county’s application for tax deeds. In the affidavit, the county clerk recited that notice of application for tax deeds was mailed to Edward L. Bond at 490 Indian Trail Road, in Billings, Montana, and that the letter addressed to him had been returned unclaimed. The printed portion of the affidavit recited “that the addresses used in mailing all the above letters are the best and latest addresses obtainable for the said persons, as disclosed by the County records of Yellowstone County, Montana.” The printed portion of the affidavit also recited that the post office address of (the addressee’s name is left blank) was unknown and that therefore the notice of application for tax deed had been served by publication.

On the same day, October 23, 1979, the county treasurer issued tax deeds to the county for the lots.

On December 20, 1979, Yellowstone County sold its interest in Lot 1 and Lot 8 of Block 4, Spring Valley Subdivision, to Mefco Company, in Billings, Montana.

Yellowstone County on December 19, 1979, also sold Lot 7, Block 4, to Raymond Weber, and Lot 6, Block 4, to Bernice M. Friez.

On January 10, 1980, Bond and Yellowstone Investment and Development Company, as plaintiffs, filed a complaint in the District Court of Yellowstone County, attacking the issuance of the tax deeds to the county as invalid, essentially on the ground that the notices of application for tax deeds were insufficient.

[293]*293Both defendants Weber and Friez did not appear in the action, and eventually default judgment was taken against them. All of the remaining parties moved the District Court for summary judgment.

Each of the parties submitted affidavits in support of their respective motions for summary judgment. Yellowstone and Mefco relied on the affidavits of the county treasurer and the county clerk, who supplied from the records in their offices the written instruments to which we have above referred.

Bond and Yellowstone Investment and Development Co., Inc. in support of their motion for summary judgment, supplied the District Court with copies of their tax statements for 1979, each of which showed that the address of Edward L. Bond was 347 Moccasin Trail in Billings, Montana. Bond and Yellowstone Investment also relied on an affidavit of James L. Carbone, to the effect that he inspected the records in the Yellowstone County clerk and recorder’s office of many deeds and mortgages and could not find Bond’s address listed; that he had inspected the Yellowstone County treasurer’s office for the tax statements for the years 1978 and 1979 and found the address of Edward L. Bond to be 347 Moccasin Trail, Billings, Montana; that he inspected the records of the Yellowstone County assessor’s office for 1978 and 1979, where Bond’s address was also listed as 347 Moccasin Trail, Billings, Montana.

An affidavit of Robert L. Stevens, Jr., the attorney for the plaintiffs, was also relied on, which essentially recited that Bond’s Moccasin Trail address was available to the county clerk within a few feet of his office.

Edward L. Bond also supplied to the District Court his affidavit to the effect that he had accidentally discovered the pending application for tax deed in late September or early October, 1979; that he had consulted an attorney and had learned from him that the county could not secure a tax deed until proper notice had been given; that he had gone to the clerk and recorder’s office to determine what he [294]*294must do to remove the property from jeopardy and that the clerk and recorder would not accept tender of the taxes, interest and penalties, but also required the payment in full of all unpaid special improvement district assessments.

On July 22, 1981, the District Court entered an order granting a summary judgment in favor of Bond and Yellowstone Investment and Development Co., Inc. and denying the motion of Mefco Co. for summary judgment.

On August 3, 1981, the District Court entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs requiring the plaintiffs to tender to the county all real estate taxes, interest and penalties on the property, and that upon the tender and receipt of those moneys, the tax deeds were to be canceled and declared null and void. The default judgment against Weber and Friez was entered at the same time.

Following the judgment, Mefco Co. and Yellowstone County moved the District Court for a new trial. In support of their motion for a new trial, they provided the District Court with copies of three deeds dated October 11, 1979, between Edward L. Bond, as grantor and Yellowstone Investment and Development Co., Inc. as grantee, relating to properties other than those involved in the tax deeds, in which deeds the address of Edward L. Bond is shown to be 490 Indian Trail, Billings, Montana. The attorney for Bond presented the District Court with a counteraffidavit to the effect that the Indian Trail address was Bond’s address when the deeds were prepared in the early summer of 1979, and not when the deeds were filed in October of 1979.

The District Court denied the motion for new trial. Yellowstone County only appeals from the judgment and the denial of the motion for new trial.

On appellate review of the validity of tax deeds, certain rules guide us.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
654 P.2d 508, 201 Mont. 290, 1982 Mont. LEXIS 983, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yellowstone-investment-development-co-v-yellowstone-county-mont-1982.