United States v. Five Acres of Land

• Decision Date: 30 July 1943
• Docket Number: Misc. Civ. No. 6412.
• Citation: 51 F. Supp. 117
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. FIVE ACRES OF LAND et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

51 F. Supp. 117

UNITED STATES v. FIVE ACRES OF LAND et al.

Misc. Civ. No. 6412.

District Court, D. Massachusetts.

July 30, 1943.

Edmund J. Brandon, U. S. Atty., and Philip P. A. O'Connell, Sp. Asst. to U. S. Atty., both of Boston, Mass., for Government.

Joseph Israelite, City Solicitor, and Louis R. Bennett, Asst. City Solicitor, both of Chelsea, Mass., for petitioner City of Chelsea, Mass.

Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, of Boston, Mass., for respondents.

Robt. T. Bushnell, Atty. Gen., for Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

HEALEY, District Judge.

By an amended declaration of taking filed by the Acting Secretary of the Navy of the United States on January 22, 1942, the United States acquired the land in question, owned by the defendants, Richard T. Green Company and M. Thomas Green, Trustee, hereinafter called owners. The City of Chelsea, hereinafter called the petitioner, filed an answer claiming that the owners are indebted to the City of Chelsea for unpaid taxes and interest, for the years 1933 to 1942 inclusive, amounting to the sum of $139,383.85, and that said sum constitutes a lien upon the land involved.

The petitioner then filed a petition seeking an order of this court for the payment to the petitioner of the sum of $139,383.85 from the balance of the sum remaining on deposit in the registry of the clerk's office of this court.

The owners filed an answer denying the validity of the claims of the petitioner, setting up, among other defenses, the defense that certain amounts of taxes claimed were not certified by the tax collector to the Treasurer as required by Massachusetts law.

The land had been sold by petitioner on September 6, 1934, for unpaid taxes, and the tax title deeds to the City of Chelsea were recorded in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds on October 18, 1934.

On April 29, 1940, the petitioner filed in the Land Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, petitions to foreclose the right of redemption to the land sold for nonpayment of 1932 taxes. The owners, in the proceedings in the Land Court, set up improper certification as a defense. These proceedings are still pending in the Land Court.

The owners' claim is that some or all of the amounts due for taxes in the years 1933 to 1942 were not properly certified. The petitioner contends that it is immaterial in the present proceedings whether or not there was proper certification.

The parties have agreed that the issue of materiality of certification may be divided from the other issues of law and fact, and that an adjudication, by way of a declaratory judgment, be made by this court upon the issue of the materiality of certification. The petitioner has, therefore, filed a motion for that purpose. Counsel have agreed that the decision of the court on this motion shall be the law of the case, subject, of course, to the right of appeal on the question of whether or not the issue of certification is material as a matter of law.

By 40 U.S.C.A. § 258a, it is provided that in the case of the taking of property by the United States for public use the "court shall have power to make such orders in respect of encumbrances, liens, rents, taxes, assessments, insurance, and other charges, if any, as shall be just and equitable."

However, in proceedings for distribution of funds deposited in the Federal Court under 40 U.S.C.A. § 258a, the rights of the respective claimants are to be determined by the law of the state where the land lies. United States v. Certain Parcels of Land in San Diego, D.C., 44 F.Supp. 936. See, also, Stevens v. Edwards, 5 Cir., 112 F.2d 534. Therefore, the question of whether or not the failure of the collector to certify the amount of the tax to the treasurer for any year invalidates the tax lien for such tax is to be determined in accordance with the law of Massachusetts, unless the law of Massachusetts is inconsistent with congressional legislation. See United States v. A Certain Tract or Parcel of Land in Chatham County, Ga., D. C., 44 F.Supp. 712, 715.

This controversy involves the correct interpretation of Chapter 60, Section 61 of the Massachusetts General Laws (Ter.Ed.) as amended by St.1936, c. 93, which provides as follows: "Whenever a town shall have purchased or taken real estate for payment of taxes the lien of the town on such real estate for all taxes assessed subsequently to the assessment for payment of which the estate was purchased or taken shall continue, and it shall be unnecessary for the town to take or sell said real estate for non-payment of said subsequent taxes, costs and interest; and on redemption from such taking or purchase, said subsequent taxes, costs and interest shall be paid to the town, and the payment shall be made a part of the terms of redemption, except that if any of the said subsequent taxes have not been certified by the collector to the treasurer to be added to the tax title account, then redemption may be made by payment only of the amount of the tax for which the estate was purchased or taken and of such subsequent taxes as shall have been so certified, together with costs and interest. The collector shall certify to the treasurer not later than September first of the year following that of their assessment all subsequent taxes which become part of the terms of redemption and the...