Knollenberg v. State Bank of Alamogordo.
| Citation | 299 P. 1077,35 N.M. 427 |
| Decision Date | 10 April 1931 |
| Docket Number | No. 3552.,3552. |
| Parties | KNOLLENBERGv.STATE BANK OF ALAMOGORDO. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Syllabus by the Court.
Tax sale becomes effective and redemption period runs from date of sale, not from date of recording certificate.
Tax sale takes effect and redemption period begins to run from date of sale, not from the date of recording the tax sale certificate.
Former owner who has not redeemed property cannot complain of irregularities in issuance of tax deed issued more than three years after tax sale.
A former owner of property which has been sold for delinquent taxes, and who has not redeemed it, is in no position to complain of irregularities in issuance of tax deed by the county to holder of certificate of sale.
Tax sale, where essentials of taxation were observed, held not subject to collateral attack, except on ground of payment of taxes or property's nonliability (Laws 1921, c. 133, § 435).
Where essentials of taxation observed, sale of property for taxes held not subject to collateral attack except on ground that taxes had been paid or that property was not liable to tax.
Appeal from District Court, Otero County; Frenger, Judge.
Suit by Florence C. Knollenberg against the State Bank of Alamogordo. From an adverse judgment, defendant appeals.
Reversed and remanded, with instructions.
Former owner who has not redeemed property cannot complain of irregularities in issuance of tax deed issued more than three years after tax sale.
Holt & Holt, of Las Cruces, for appellant.
Knollenberg & Cameron, of El Paso, Tex., for appellee.
After reargument on rehearing of this cause, we have concluded that the original opinion should be withdrawn and the matter should be disposed of anew.
On February 1, 1923, certain lots belonging to Knollenberg were sold to Otero county for unpaid taxes of 1920. Tax sale certificate was recorded July 7, 1924. On October 14, 1926, more than three years after sale, a tax deed was issued to appellant, the State Bank of Alamogordo. Knollenberg brought suit to cancel the deed as a cloud upon her title, and, among other allegations, set up that the county sold the certificate to “The State Bank of Alamo,” which was a different person from the appellant, and that no assignment of the certificate was ever made from the former to the latter; that the deed was void because issued within three years from the date of recording of the tax sale certificate; that no notice was given to the former owner of intention to apply for a tax deed.
A demurrer interposed by appellant presented the proposition that, the complaint showing on its face that the property having been sold for taxes and the former owner not having redeemed it within three years after the sale, she was without such interest in the subject-matter as would permit her to challenge the sufficiency of the deed. In other words, her title having been extinguished by the tax sale and failure to redeem, she had no title upon which the tax deed could be a cloud.
In answer to this contention, appellee pointed to allegations of her complaint to the effect that the property was not properly assessed; that the proceedings which were the basis of the tax judgment were irregular, and the judgment therefore void; that the subsequent proceedings leading up to the sale were irregular, and the sale therefore void. Appellant countered with the proposition that, as the complaint did not allege that the taxes had been paid before the sale, nor that the property was not subject to taxation, the curative provisions contained in section 435, c. 133, Laws 1921, estopped appellee from raising any objection to the procedure eventuating in the deed.
As to the judgment and proceedings leading thereto, the appellant's demurrer was sustained, and the appellee took no steps for a review of the court's ruling.
[1][2] Appellee contended, and the trial court held, that the statutory period of redemption commenced to run at the date of recording the tax sale certificate and not from...
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