Opinion ID: 1162719
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lienholders

Text: The Opponents argue that the procedures for notifying potential claimants were constitutionally infirm because holders of liens on real property with appurtenant water rights  potential claimants whose identities were reasonably ascertainable  were not included on the mailing list for the service of the initial summons. We disagree. The United States Supreme Court has held that a reasonably identifiable mortgagee is entitled to personal service or mailed notice informing it of a pending tax sale and of its statutory redemption right. Mennonite Bd. of Missions v. Adams, 462 U.S. 791, 103 S.Ct. 2706, 77 L.Ed.2d 180 (1983). We recognize that mortgagees and other lienors have a property right, the value of which could be diminished by the loss of water rights appurtenant to the encumbered property, and that they are therefore entitled to due process under Mennonite. Once it is determined that due process applies, the question remains what process is due. Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565, 577, 95 S.Ct. 729, 738, 42 L.Ed.2d 725 (1975) (quoting Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 481, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2600, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972)). Because the decision in Mennonite was controlled by the analysis in Mullane,  Mennonite, 462 U.S. at 798, 103 S.Ct. at 2711, we look to Mullane to determine whether, under the circumstances, the mortgagees and other lienholders who received notice by publication were accorded due process. See Rosewell v. Chicago Title & Trust Co., 99 Ill.2d 407, 76 Ill.Dec. 831, 834, 459 N.E.2d 966, 969 (1984) (construing  Mennonite as a decision in line with Mullane  and focusing on the adequacy of the procedural requirements of Illinois' tax sale statute), appeal dismissed, 467 U.S. 1237, 104 S.Ct. 3503, 82 L.Ed.2d 813 (1984). Mullane held, as we have recognized above, that due process requires that notice be reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action. 339 U.S. at 314, 70 S.Ct. at 657, quoted in Dixon v. Picopa Constr. Co., 160 Ariz. 251, 261, 772 P.2d 1104, 1114 (1989). Mullane cautioned, however, that [a] construction of the Due Process Clause which would place impossible or impractical obstacles in the way could not be justified. Mullane, 339 U.S. at 314, 70 S.Ct. at 647. We believe that requiring SLD and DWR to search title records for the names of all mortgagees and lienholders on approximately 800,000 parcels of land, and then to mail the initial summons to all of them, would have constituted an unreasonable burden. See Rosewell, 76 Ill.Dec. at 833-34, 459 N.E.2d at 968-69 (The names and addresses of the party against whom the taxes were last assessed is readily available in the county tax records; the addresses of all mortgagees, lienholders and other interested parties can only be ascertained by costly and time-consuming title searches on the 121,000 delinquent parcels of land.). Cf. Schroeder v. New York, 371 U.S. 208, 83 S.Ct. 279, 9 L.Ed.2d 255 (1962) (publication notice insufficient for due process where owner of condemned property readily determinable from deed and tax records). For the mortgagees and other lienors, notice by publication met the requirements of due process. [12]