Court Opinion

ID: 9664718
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:27:08.806294+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:09.261618
License: Public Domain

TOM GRAY, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Where there is certainty the judiciary should not inject uncertainty under the guise of a liberal construction of a statute or events to extend a timeframe for which the legislature gave no extension. On the last day of the redemption period, Jensen attempted to exercise the right. Both he and his lawyer knew Covington had ten days in which to assemble the information regarding expenses necessary to be included in the redemption computation. The fact that Covington could have done it easily based upon the information he had, but chose not to, is not important. The statute gave Covington ten days to do it. By inferring that he had any duty, obligation, or opportunity to respond beyond the deadline for the redemption period effectively extended the redemption to 189 days instead of 180. This we cannot properly do when the statute clearly sets the redemption deadline at 180 days, no more. The statute even has a failsafe provision in it when the buyer, who has no duty to assist the original owner to redeem the property, is uncooperative.
This problem was not created by Cov-ington. Jensen failed to pay his taxes on time. Jensen failed to respond to the suit when sued for the taxes. Jensen failed to pay the judgment for the taxes. Jensen failed to exercise the right of redemption within the statutory deadline in time for the redemption amount to be properly calculated. I would affirm the trial court’s judgment and because the majority does not, I dissent.1

. I also do not believe there was an effective tender of the funds necessary to redeem the property.