Opinion ID: 1939557
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: CAN THE RIGHTS OF REDEMPTION RECOGNIZED IN G.L. 1956 (1980 Reenactment) chapter 9 of title 44 BE EXTINGUISHED BY ADVERSE POSSESSION?

Text: Section 44-9-25 provides a specific method for foreclosure of the rights of redemption of a titleholder whose property has been sold for nonpayment of taxes: Petition for foreclosure of redemption.  After one (1) year from a sale of land for taxs, except as provided in §§ 44-9-19 to 44-9-22, inclusive, whoever then holds the title thereby acquired may bring a petition in the superior court for the foreclosure of all rights of redemption thereunder. Such petition shall set forth a description of the land to which it applies, with its assessed valuation, the petitioner's source of title, giving a reference to the place, book and page of record, and such other facts as may be necessary for the information of the court. Two (2) or more parcels of land may be included in any petition brought by a town, as purchaser of such title or titles, if such parcels are in the same record ownership at the time of bringing such petition   . This is a question of first impression before this court, although we have determined in Picerne v. Sylvestre, 113 R.I. 598, 324 A.2d 617 (1974), that the prior record owners of real estate that had been sold for taxes but who remained in possession of the real estate for more than eleven years following a tax sale could extinguish the tax purchaser's right under the doctrine of adverse possession. Consequently, in the case at bar, we are called upon to determine whether the converse result should obtain pursuant to the doctrine of adverse possession. In Picerne the court limited its holding to establishing the principle that the holder of a tax title who procrastinates in foreclosing the right of redemption runs the risk of having his title divested by a successful showing of the requisite adverse possession. 113 R.I. at 602-03, 324 A.2d at 619-20. The question with which we are faced in the case at bar is whether a tax-sale purchaser and his successors in interest may extinguish the right of redemption by adverse possession if continued for the statutory period of ten years. We answer this question in the affirmative. The defendants seem to argue that one who purchases at a tax sale may extinguish the right of redemption only as provided in § 44-9-25 and in no other way. The defendants support this argument by suggesting that the holder of a tax title does not hold adversely to the record title-holder's right to redeem. This rationale was specifically rejected in Picerne, in which we held that the tax purchaser receives an independent grant from the sovereign which bars or extinguishes all former titles, interests and liens not specifically excepted. 113 R.I. at 600, 324 A.2d at 618. Thus this court determined that the collector's deed confers absolute legal title upon the tax-sale purchaser subject only to defeasance by redemption. Id. at 600-03, 324 A.2d at 618-19. Such a title is hostile and adverse to all other claimants including the prior record owners. There seems to run through defendants' argument a suggestion that one who enters upon real estate by deed is not entitled to benefit by adverse possession but that adverse possession is designed for the benefit of trespassers who disseise without any claim of title. In support of this argument, defendants suggest that the presumption of a lost grant, as set forth in § 34-16-7, is inconsistent with a recorded title deed. The surface plausibility of this argument is pierced by an examination of the historical background of adverse-possession statutes. Such statutes of limitation extend back to the thirteenth and earlier centuries. 7 Powell & Rohan, The Law of Real Property, ¶ 1012, at 91-2 to 91-3 (1984). The first such statute that furnished a pattern for modern American statutes of limitations was that of 21 Jac. I, ch. 16, §§ 1, 2 (1623), which provided for the quieting of estates after twenty years of peaceable possession. Id. at 91-3 n. 7. Such statutes were not designed solely for the protection of trespassers and tortious disseisors (although such persons may have benefited from the statute of limitations) but were designed to quiet the title of individuals who had acquired title by deed but whose deeds were in some way defective. Id. at 91-3, 91-9. In discussing adverse possession, Professor Powell and Dean Rohan speak of one element, color of title, in instances in which a written instrument that is defective creates only an appearance of title: Possession under color of title confers at least two benefits on the possessors. First, actual possession of only a part is treated as constructive possession of the whole area covered by the instrument. Second, the required period of possession is [by some statutory provisions] shortened. The writing relied on to furnish color of title is often a deed. Procedures established for the selling of land for the collection of taxes have been frequently defective in their provisions, and have also been inexpertly applied. The result has been a high vulnerability of tax deeds. Such a deed, even when demonstrably void, has been found to constitute color of title [for purposes of adverse possession]. Id., ¶ 1013, at 91-39 to 91-40. Similarly, when adverse-possession statutes were first adopted in Rhode Island, the expressed purpose, as stated in the preambles, indicated the intention of the Legislature to confirm titles held under defective deeds. For example, the Public Laws of 1852 at page 219 sets forth An Act for quieting Possession and avoiding Suits at Law, which contained the following preamble: Whereas at the first settling of this state, and for sundry years afterwards, lands were of little or no value, and skilful men in the law were much wanted, whereby many deeds, grants and conveyances were weakly made, which may occasion great contests in law if not timely prevented   . The Legislature then went on to provide for the quieting of title in those who had uninterrupted, quiet, peaceable, and actual seisin for a space of twenty years. A similar preamble may be found to chapter 148 of the Revised Statutes of 1857, which again provided for the quieting of title of those who hold peaceable and actual seisin for a period of twenty years. We reject the argument that one who enters upon real estate by deed, as opposed to tortious disseisin, may not have the benefit of quieting his title by adverse possession. Indeed, in Picerne we clearly held that the rights of the tax-sale purchaser and of record title holders in possession could become adverse to each other. We see no reason why the converse should not also be true. Section 34-16-7 specifically provides that adverse possession for a period of at least ten years shall raise the rebuttable presumption in law and in fact of a lost grant, properly executed and delivered, effective to cure the defect or defects in plaintiff's title   . (Emphasis added.) This provision for quieting title, as well as the provisions of § 34-7-1, which provide for conclusive title by peaceful possession under claim of right, create a statutory scheme for the cure and supplying of defects of title to those who have had for the statutory term uninterrupted, quiet, peaceful and actual seisin and possession of any lands, tenements or hereditaments for and during [the space of ten years], claiming the same as his, her or their proper, sole and rightful estate in fee simple   . Section 34-7-1. This statutory scheme makes no distinctions concerning the type of deed or claim of right under which the parties in possession assert their ownership. We have often stated that it is the obligation of the court, when dealing with statutes in pari materia, to interpret the statutes in a manner so as to achieve a harmonious result. State v. Ahmadjian, 438 A.2d 1070, 1080-81 (R.I. 1981); Herald Press, Inc. v. Norberg, 122 R.I. 264, 271, 405 A.2d 1171, 1176 (1979). In interpreting the provisions of § 44-9-25 with the provisions of §§ 34-16-1, -2, -3, -5, -7 and -8, such a harmonious result is readily achieved. Section 44-9-25 provides for foreclosure of the right of redemption by a tax-sale purchaser at any time after one year from the date of the sale for nonpayment of taxes. This section gives a speedy method of confirming full title in the taxsale purchaser and extinguishing the right of redemption after only one year from the date of sale. The provisions of § 34-16-1 [2] specifically provide for the quieting of a title  based upon or    through a deed of a tax collector or town or city treasurer upon sale of real estate for the collection of taxes, assessments or municipal liens of any kind  (as well as other types of deeds) coupled with adverse possession for the necessary period as set forth in § 34-16-7. (Emphasis added.) The action brought under § 34-16-1 requires a period of ten years of open, notorious, and adverse possession as opposed to the mere one year required under § 44-9-25. If the provisions of § 44-9-25 were exclusive, it would render the language of § 34-16-1 relating to the deed of a tax collector meaningless and nugatory. Another familiar rule of construction is that we do not interpret legislative enactments as meaningless or nugatory if any other construction is reasonably possible. See, e.g., Montaquila v. St. Cyr, 433 A.2d 206, 214 (R.I. 1981); Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce v. Hackett, 122 R.I. 686, 690, 411 A.2d 300, 303 (1980); Kingsley v. Miller, 120 R.I. 372, 376, 388 A.2d 357, 360 (1978); Town of Scituate v. O'Rourke, 103 R.I. 499, 509-10, 239 A.2d 176, 182-83 (1968). Consequently, we conclude that the provisions of § 44-9-25, when read together with the provisions of chapter 16 of title 34, allow an early foreclosure of the right of redemption subsequent to one year after the date of the tax sale or the quieting of title by adverse possession if there is an adequate showing of the required elements thereof for a period of ten years subsequent to the commencement of such adverse possession. We therefore hold that the trial justice was correct in his determination that the right of redemption may be extinguished by adverse possession for the statutory period and subject to proof of the statutory conditions.