Title: Collier v. Hilltop Nat. Bank

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

Collier v. Hilltop Nat. Bank1996 WY 88920 P.2d 1241Case Number: 95-184Decided: 06/26/1996Supreme Court of Wyoming
Hal 
O. COLLIER and Comprehensive Financial Corporation, as Trustee of Investment 191 
Trust, Appellants (Defendants),

v.

HILLTOP NATIONAL BANK, as 
assignee of National Bank of Glenrock,

 Appellee 
(Plaintiff).

Appeal from The District 
Court, Converse County, Barton R. Voigt, J.

Randall B. Reed 
and Brandin Hay of Dray, Madison & Thomson, P.C., Cheyenne; and Fred W. 
Dilts, III, Douglas, for Appellants.

Barry G. 
Williams of Williams, Porter, Day & Neville, P.C., Casper; and James A. 
Hardee, Douglas, for Appellee.

Before 
GOLDEN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY, TAYLOR and LEHMAN, JJ.

TAYLOR, Chief 
Justice.

[¶1]      The district 
court granted summary judgment in favor of Hilltop National Bank, ruling that 
property sold for delinquent assessments elsewhere in the state is subject to a 
redemption period twice that applicable in cities designated as "first class." 
Failing to find statutory distinction which nullifies constitutional equality of 
property owners or creditors throughout the state, we 
reverse.

I. 
ISSUES

[¶2]      Hal O. Collier 
and Comprehensive Financial Corporation, as Trustee of Investment 191 Trust 
(Collier), make the following statement of the issues:

I.          
Did the district court err in applying the four-year redemption period 
found at W.S. § 39-3-108 (1995) for redeeming real property sold for delinquent 
taxes to the redemption of real property sold for a delinquent assessment for 
local improvements?

II.          
Did the district court err in concluding that W.S. § 34-2-131 et seq. 
(1995) did not bar appellee's action to set aside appellant's tax 
deed?

[¶3]      Hilltop National 
Bank, as assignee of the National Bank of Glenrock (Hilltop), articulates 
similar issues for resolution:

A.        Did the 
district court err in its conclusion that W.S. § 15-6-409, providing for the 
collection of delinquent assessments from local improvement districts in cities 
and towns other than cities of the first class, incorporates the four (4) year 
redemption period found in W.S. § 39-3-108(A)?

B.        Did the 
district court err in its determination that the appellants' (defendants') 
possession of the subject real property was not sufficient to invoke the 
provisions of W.S. § 34-2-131 et seq.?

 

II. 
FACTS

[¶4]      On September 5, 
1984, Raymond D. and Sandra Lynn Lythgoe executed a promissory note for 
$27,770.00 payable to the First National Bank of Glenrock, partially secured by 
certain real property owned by the Lythgoes. A mortgage deed was recorded with 
the Converse County Clerk on September 24, 1984.

[¶5]      On August 23, 
1989, that property was sold to the Town of Glenrock for non-payment of 1988 
local assessments. On August 7, 1991, Collier purchased the property from the 
Town of Glenrock and was issued a certificate of purchase. On September 6, 1991, 
Collier notified the National Bank of Glenrock of his intent to apply for a tax 
deed. On March 27, 1992, Comprehensive Financial Corporation was issued a tax 
deed by the Converse County Treasurer.

[¶6]      In March of 1993, 
the National Bank of Glenrock asserted a continuing interest in the property, 
notifying Collier of their claim. On August 17, 1993, the Converse County 
Treasurer's Office issued the National Bank of Glenrock a Certificate of 
Redemption for the property. When Collier continued to exercise acts of dominion 
over the contested property, the National Bank of Glenrock filed 
suit.

[¶7]      The district 
court ruled that by assigning the county treasurer's collection responsibility 
for delinquent local assessments in other than first class cities, Wyo. Stat. § 
15-6-409 (1992) implicitly incorporated the four year period of redemption found 
in Wyo. Stat. § 39-3-108(a) (1994). Pursuing that rationale, the district court 
held the two year period of redemption for property sold for delinquent local 
assessments, as found in Wyo. Stat. §§ 15-6-412(a) and 15-6-418(a) (1992), 
applicable only to "first class cities" (see Wyo. Stat. § 15-3-101 (1992)). 
Finding the tax deed to have been issued approximately two and one-half years 
after the assessment sale, the district court granted summary judgment for 
Hilltop, as assignee of the National Bank of Glenrock, finding their redemption 
of the property three years, eleven months and twenty-five days after the 
assessment sale to have been within the redemption period provided by Wyo. Stat. 
§ 39-3-108(a). This appeal followed.

III. STANDARD OF 
REVIEW

[¶8]      Our review of a 
summary judgment contemplates those same materials available to the district 
court, affording that court's conclusions of law no particular deference. Daily 
v. Bone, 906 P.2d 1039, 1042 (Wyo. 1995). "If the district court's conclusion of 
law is correct, we affirm; if it is incorrect, we correct it." Trefren v. Lewis, 
852 P.2d 323, 325 (Wyo. 1993) (citing Parker Land and Cattle Co. v. Wyoming Game 
and Fish Com'n, 845 P.2d 1040, 1042 (Wyo. 1993)).

IV. 
DISCUSSION

[¶9]      Wyo. Stat. §§ 
15-6-401 through 15-6-448 (1992) constitute a comprehensive statutory scheme 
enacted by the Wyoming legislature to regulate assessments against real property 
for local improvements. Administration, assessment and collection of property 
taxes, on the other hand, are controlled by Wyo. Stat. §§ 39-1-101 through 
39-3-301 (1994 and Cum.Supp. 1995). Although "`assessments for local 
improvements form an important part of the system of taxation[,]'" assessments 
are not a tax at all in the constitutional sense and "[p]rovisions relating to 
taxation generally are not applicable to local assessments or special taxation 
for improvements." 14 Eugene McQuillin, The Law of Municipal Corporations, § 
38.01 at 12 (3rd ed. 1987). Notwithstanding some confusion of terminology, the 
distinction between taxation and assessments is a matter of law. Barlow v. 
Lonabaugh, 61 Wyo. 118, 126-32, 156 P.2d 289, 291-93 
(1945).

[¶10]   Wyo. Stat. § 15-6-418 provides, in 
pertinent portion:

(a) Any property sold for 
an assessment is subject to redemption by the former owner, or his 
grantee, mortgagee, heir or other representative at any time within two (2) 
years of the date of the sale, upon [the completion of statutorily mandated 
prerequisites].

(Emphasis 
added.)

[¶11]   The district court proposes that 
because Wyo. Stat. § 15-6-409 requires the county treasurer to collect 
delinquent assessments for other than first class cities, "as other general 
taxes are collected[,]" the four year statute of limitations provided in Wyo. 
Stat. § 39-3-108(a) applies, making delinquent assessments anywhere other than 
cities of the first class a redemptive horse of an entirely different color. See 
Wyo. Stat. § 15-1-101 (1992). Reading Wyo. Stat. § 15-6-409 so as to consider 
its "ordinary and obvious meaning," there is no limitation of the two year 
redemption period provided therein to first class cities. See Vigil v. 
Ruettgers, 887 P.2d 521, 524 (Wyo. 1994).

[¶12]   The redemption of property sold to 
pay delinquent assessments is controlled by Wyo. Stat. § 15-6-418. Collier 
followed this statute to the letter. The statute provides a two year redemption 
period for property sold to pay delinquent assessments. In addition to this two 
year redemption period, it also provides owners with a final sixty day window 
within which they can redeem their property. Before a deed can be executed in 
favor of the payor of the delinquent assessment, the owner must be notified of 
the payor's intention to seek a deed for the property. The owner then has a 
final sixty day period in which to redeem the property. If the owner fails to 
redeem the property within that sixty day period, the deed must be issued to the 
payor. Hilltop failed to redeem the property within two years after Collier paid 
the delinquent assessment. Hilltop again failed to redeem the property within 
sixty days after Collier notified them he was going to request a deed for the 
property. The entire transaction was controlled by Wyo. Stat. § 15-6-418 and the 
remaining issues raised by the parties are irrelevant.

V. 
CONCLUSION

[¶13]   We are a rural state where great 
distances separate generally small communities. It makes sense that the larger 
first class cities would have the existing bureaucratic capacity to collect 
assessments for local improvements. The remaining cities, towns, and hamlets of 
our state, being second class only by virtue of their diminutive population 
figures, have citizens entitled to the same legal protections available to the 
relatively larger locales. The judgment of the district court is reversed, with 
directions to enter a judgment in favor of Collier.