Arkansas man gets his house back
Gary Kent Jones did not receive the letters of notification of the sale of his property. He found out the house was for sale once it was sold. Could this happen to you or someone you know?
It was determined by the U. S. Supreme Court with a vote of 5-3 that Arkansas’ land commissioner should have done more to try to notify a homeowner that his house was to be sold. The reason for the sale is that he did not pay the property tax.
The court ruled that the procedure Arkansas used to notify Jones did not meet the 14th Amendment’s requirement that property not be taken without due process of law. This ruling by the high court reversed a 2004 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that held that the notice procedure prescribed by Arkansas law was appropriate.
Jones sued Land Commissioner Mark Wilcox and Linda Flowers after she bought the property from the state. The lawsuit contended the commissioner did not give Jones adequate notice of the pending sale prior to the actual sale, resulting in Jones ’ property being taken without due process.
In 2000, the state sent a certified letter addressed to Jones at the address of the house. It was returned unclaimed. The state later also published a notice of the coming sale in the newspaper.
No bids were submitted which permitted the state to negotiate a private sale. Flowers submitted a purchase offer. The commissioner’s office mailed another certified letter to Jones at the house saying his house would be sold if he didn’t pay the taxes. This was about two years after the earlier letter. This one also was returned unclaimed.
The house was then sold to Flowers for $21,042. 15. During the trial it was entered that the house had a fair market value of $80, 000.
Flowers had an unlawful detainer notice delivered to the property. It was served on Jones’ daughter. She contacted her father and notified him of the sale. This all leading to his lawsuit.
Trials in lower courts bean and ended but it all ended with The U. S. Supreme Court ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts. The Chief Justice said many states require in their laws that government do more than simply mail a notice.
Jones is expected to get the chance to get his property back by paying the owed taxes of at least $ 6,200. The commissioner plans to refund the money Flowers paid for the property.
How the Judges voted:
Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer agreed with Roberts.
Justice Clarence Thomas said in the dissenting opinion that the state had a sound basis for determining that notice would reach Jones by relying on the address provided by him.
Arkansas exceeded the constitutional minimum by publishing notice in a local newspaper, Thomas wrote.
“Due process requires nothing more — and certainly not here, where petitioner had a statutory duty to pay his taxes and to report any change of address to the state taxing authority,� the dissent said.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony M. Kennedy joined the dissent.
Justice Samuel A. Alito did not have a vote as he did not participate in the case.
Jones bought the house 1967 and lived there with his wife until they separated in 1993. Jones moved into an apartment in Little Rock while his wife continued to live in the house.
Jones paid his mortgage each month for 30 years. Part of the arrangement with the mortgage company was that they paid Jones’ property taxes. After Jones paid off the mortgage in 1997, the property taxes went unpaid and the property was certified as delinquent.
The moral of this story is to pay your taxes.
In reading this perhaps you thought of a loved one that may have owned a house and you are not sure what happened to their personal belongings. Could you be an heir to their wealth? If you want to find out if you have unclaimed property click here.
It is a fact that nine out of ten Americans have unclaimed cash and property. The government is holding over $25 Billion in such assets. Help them by finding your share of the money.
