Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-27
REFORM MUST COME.
The Municipal Tax Lien Said by
Lawyers to be a Necessity.
JUDGE FETTERMAN TELLS WHY.
Old Errors of Assessment That Might be
Annoying 200 years Hence.
ANOTHER LAWYEl GIVES HIS REASONS

! up discussion In this city only second 10 the
submission of the liquor prohibition amend
ment to the State Constitution, especially
among lawyers, who, from the nature OF
their business, are more alive to the exigen-
cies of the situation than other people. E1-
Judge Fetterman gives some cogent reasons
why the bill should pass, the main one being,
as he puts it, to cure the possi-
negligence in the City Assessors s
Office Mr.. Fetterman cited a case where a
large property in the city had been assessed
for ten years in the name Of man whose
wife owned all the property. Now the
mischief is to pay. The family has been
selling lots for many years, and, from time
to time, the municipal liens have been re-
leased, until the property has/been narrowed
| down to 13 acres, against which stand 81 400
of taxes, and the liens remain shadow on
the titles of all the property sold and it is
impossible for lawyer to find them with
certainty.
He also tells of another case where a
woman bought property and has paid the
taxes upon it for six or seven years, and yet
the property has been regularly assessed to
the person from whom she bought, and she
is put to the expense of having the matter
righted, as, though the taxes have been
paid. they still cucumber.
MIR. FETTERMAN COMPLAINS
that City Councils have been authorizing
the City Attorney and Delinquent Tax Col
lector to release liens, and not only so, but
mere clerk in the Delinquent Tax Collec-
tors Office has been doing what an attorney
cannot do. He takes the ground that Coun-
ellis have not the right to allow the City So
licitor to do it, let alone a clerk in the afore-
named Tax Collectors Office. So loosely
has the matter been attended to, says Mr..
Fetterman, that more taxes have been lost
in the last ten years than are now on the
Delinquent Tax Collectors list.
Mr.. Fetterman's exposition was given at
such rate of speed, he only having two
and a-half minutes from the opening until
his departure for home, that the writer did
not comprehend him as fully as desired; but
the following, from another lawyer, who re-
fused to allow the use of his name, will
make the subject more clear. Said he:
There is quite howl raised by city officials
relative to an act of Assembly before the Leg
islature, compelling the revival of municipal
liens every five years. No one can better ap-
preciate the benefits contemplated by this act
than one who is engaged in the examination of
titles. Judgments expire in five years, and
why should municipal liens continue indefinite
ly? Have we not at the present time four at
torneys: Messrs. Moreland, Burleigh, Carnahan
and House, with coed salaries, looking after
the city's interest, besides private counsel who
are frequently called in to assist?
Now, can't these officials take a little time
from their other businesses to attend to the re-
viyal of these liens 1t is very unsafe thing to
allow any lien to be of unlimited duration.
AN AWFUL OUTLOOK.
Two hundred years from this time a munich
pal lien of record now will still be an encum-
brance on the property if the present law is
continued; besides the law abhors perpetuIties.
Section IL in the act of 1857 relative to de-
linquent taxes, should also be amended. 1t is
as follows: AL taxes and water rents filed as
lien in default of payments shall be liens on
real estate, whether the real owner is named or
not And sale upon the same against the party
assessed shall vest good title in the pur-
chaser Now, no examination, however care
full, can guard against this section.
For instance. John Jones negotlates to buy
employs an attorney who examines the title
and reports that it is all right. Jones pays the
consideration and gets deed. After being in
possession ten years there is an execution
issued on municipal lien against the property
entered in the name of Mary O'Brien, although
no one by the name of O'Brien ever had title
to the property. Jones, of course, is very
much excited and rushes to his attorney, who
tells him that according to the act of Assem-
bly,, he can't avoid paying off the execution,
and that it was not his (the attorney's) fault
that the lien was overlooked. no such name be-
ing in the chain of title. Well, Jones pays the
lien Of Smith, the grantor. has no property,
and it would be useless to sue him, and Jones
is without redress. This is not overdrawn, as
Just such cases have arisen in our courts
Another fact would wish tn call attention
to, and that is when deed is left with the City
Engineer to show change of title he does not
report it to the Assessors office, and frequently
being due is writ of execution from the
Sheriff.
1 have frequently observed that property has
been sold for city taxes marked unknown |
owner. / believe from the wording of the act |
that the Delinquent Tax Collector has no
authority to sell property in this manner.
1t is his business to make inquiries and find |
an owner or supposed owner. 1 would sug.
gest that limit of five years be placed on all |
taxes, city, county and State, unless revived in /
the meantime.
By-the-by, outsiders consider it a very simple |
matter to examine titles. Well, only those who |
examine them can tell the length Of time. the |
worry and the liability to make mistakes which |
occur in their examinations
ILLUSTRATING THE CASE.
F. S. Bennett, ESQ.,, added something of
further interest to the above. He called |
attention to the municipal liens filed against
East End property under the Penn avenue
act, which the Supreme Court sat down
upon. An attempt was made by some of
the benefciaries to have these liens stricken
of, but the Supreme Court refused to grant
relief as, in common parlance, it looked |
somewhat cheeky for beneficiary to make
the request [These are not Mr.. Benefits
words, but they express the idea. Well, it
is not impossible that these liens, though
not lawful or collectible, may be cloud on
East End titles for 30, 100. or even 200 years,
working harm tosubsequent purchasers. and
in the lapse oftime when an attempt is madeto
dissipate that cloud, it may be very difficult
matter to show why they are illegal, as the
reasons on which the Supreme Court based
its decision may not at that lapse of time
be understandable. 1t may puzzle posterity
to show that at the time these improve
ments were made the land was agricultural
and impossible of improvement under
urban regulations. At the time the old
Court House was burned there were many
records destroyed and it is easy to under
stand how such matters may have been
thereby. The sooner the mat
ter is rectifed the less will be the expense
and trouble.
By the way, real estate dealer desires to
know what becomes of the taxes assessed on
these liens. He states that he pays it for
many of his patrons, but cannot find to
what purpose it is applied.
FOREIGN Gems in Pitfsburr