January 16, 1939

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Honorable Charles T. Banister CriminalDistrict Attorney Corsioana,Texas Dear Hr. Banister: / opinion No. f3-60 Re: 1' Suit&yState to set aside.' , tax sale.,
Your letter of January 10, 1939, in regard to the State setting aside a tax sale beoause of a grossly Inadequateprice, was duly received by this oftioe.

'Xe interpretyour question to be whet~heror not the district or county attorney oan maintain a suit, or set aside a tax sale of real estate because the sale Frioewas grossly inadequate, it being less than the taxes due in this case.

Fe understand that the sale in questioowas made under the proceedingprescribed in Article 7320 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, in view of the fact that you any "that the sherirrhad a right to refuse to acoept the bid."

The on17 refarenoe to this question in any oi the 'statutes is in Article 7328where it says:

”
....theacceptanceby the sheriff of the bid shall be conclusiveand binding on the question of the suffioienoyof the bid, and no action shallbe sustained in any court of this State to set aside said sale 

### on groundsof the insufficiencyof the amount bid and accepted. Nothing herein shallbe oonstrued as prohibiting the State, aotlng through the oounty attorney of the countywherein the laud lies, or its AttorneyGeneral, from instituting

### an action to set aside the said sale 

### on the grounds of fraud or collusionbetween the officer making the sale and the Furchaser...."

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Honorable Charles T. Banister, January 16, 1939, Page 2

We feel that this provision oonolusivelyprohibits the bringing of'

a suit by the district or county attorney to set aside a tax sale on the grounds of inadequaoy of price alone. Rut, this would havebeen the lawsif this provisionhad not been put in the statute. 

### Thereareno Texas cases, as far as we can find, that hold that the State can bringa suit to set aside a tax sale under any circumstances. The only Texas oases in ivhioh tax sales have been annulledhave b$en suitsbrought by 

### lndividual personswith an interest in the land. Cooley on Taxation indioates tbnt 

### a personwith an interest can bring suoh a suit but that the State cannot oh Taxation, 4 ed., 7 intain this kind of suit. 4 Cooley 2949,~says: "Aotions relating to tax-titlesmay be brought eithar by the tax purchaser or his 

### assignsor repxesentative,or by the owner of the property sold‘lor taxes or his assigns or representative. The former are to reco,ver.,possesslon in aid of the tax-title or to confirm or quiet the tax-title. The latter are an attaoh on the tax-title....11
In Article 7328, 

### quotedabove, it is provided that 

### a suitmay be brought by the State to set aside the sale *on the ground of fraud or collusionbetween the officermaking the sale and the urcbaser...." If you couldbring your suit 

### under this provision and allege and Drove fraud or oolluslonbetween the offioer and the purchaser,you then could probabLyprove as evidence of the fraud and collusion the faot of inadsquaoy of price. W8 make this statementbecause the Texas cases in which individualswith an interest in the land have brought suits to set aside tax sales hold that inadequaoyof prioe alosewill not set aside a tax sale, but that inadequaoyof prioe will be consideredalong with other irreguls~Xties. Rogers v. Moore, 100 Tex. 220, 97 S. W. 685; Ross v. arouilhet, 00 3. W. 241: Crosby v. Bonnowskv (Ct.Civ. 

### ADD.) 69 S. %'.212: 

### Crosbyv. Bo$owsky ISup. 

### Ct.),9s 'i!ex. 449,Sk-& W. 47, and 40 Tex. 

### Jur. 263.

Our answer to your question is that the distriot or oounty attorney cannotmaintain a suit to set aside a tax sale of real estate on the grounds of :Tross inadequno7of sale prioe alone; but we do hold that in a su:tby the State to set aside a tax sale *on the ground of fraud or.collusionbetween the officermaking the sale and the purchaser*, it would be proper to show inadequacy ol saleprice as evidence of the fraudIionomble Charles T. Banister, January 16, 1939, Pa* 3

or collusion. ,_~- Yours very truly -ATTORNEY CiG=GR& OF TEXAS

BY Cecil C. Rotsah

ksistant

ATTXXEYGEXWL 01 TQdS