Auditor General v. Newman

• Decision Date: 22 December 1903
• Citation: 97 N.W. 703,135 Mich. 288
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: AUDITOR GENERAL v. NEWMAN.

97 N.W. 703

135 Mich. 288

AUDITOR GENERAL v. NEWMAN.

Supreme Court of Michigan

December 22, 1903

Appeal from Circuit Court, Oceana County, in Chancery; Fred J Russell, Judge.

Petition by the Auditor General against John Newman to foreclose tax liens upon certain land. From a judgment for defendant plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

This is a petition in chancery filed in 1903 by the Auditor General under the law, to foreclose tax liens upon delinquent lands. The land in question was purchased by contestant, Newman, at the annual tax sale in 1902, for the delinquent taxes of the year 1897. At the tax sale in 1897 the land was sold by the state to Minnie B. Eldridge for the delinquent taxes of 1891 to 1894, inclusive. At the time of her purchase she paid, as the law required, the taxes for the years 1895 and 1896 which were then a lien upon the land. Upon her application the Auditor General on May 8, 1900, canceled said sale as illegal, and refunded the money to her. Upon the belief that the taxes so refunded were still a lien upon the land, the Auditor General included in this petition said lands, praying the foreclosure of the liens. Newman contested, making three objections: (1) That the sale to him for the delinquent tax of 1897 conveyed to him the entire fee of the land, and was all the interest which the state had or claimed therein; (2) that the taxes for 1895 and 1896 were paid, and the lien of the state extinguished thereby; (3) that the proceedings on the part of the Auditor General to re-establish the lien for the taxes of 1891 to 1896, inclusive, were unauthorized. The court sustained the claim of the contestant.

Charles A. Blair, Atty. Gen. (Charles W. McGill, of counsel), for appellant.

Hartwick & Skeels, for appellee.

GRANT J. (after stating the facts).

The Auditor General, in canceling these sales and refunding the money, acted under the authority of Gurd v. Auditor General, 122 Mich. 151, 80 N.W. 1005. If that decision had correctly stated the law, the action of the Auditor General in canceling the sales to Mrs. Eldridge and refunding the money would have been valid. That decision was overruled in Cole v. Auditor General (Mich.) 93 N.W. 890, in so far as the former decision sustained the power of the Auditor General to review and set aside proceedings prior to the decree. The law under which these sales were made to Mrs. Eldridge provided that the lien for the taxes, etc.,...