Court Opinion

ID: 9739263
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:11:22.866865+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:11.181682
License: Public Domain

GIVAN, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. Although Ind.Code § 6-1.1-24-4.2 (repealed 1989; mow see § 6-1.1-24-3) was passed after the completion of the facts governing Mennonite Board of Missions v. Adams (1983), 462 U.S. 791, 103 S.Ct. 2706, 77 L.Ed.2d 180, the law set forth in Mennonite is applicable to the facts in the case at bar.
When the State undertakes to acquire real estate because of delinquent taxes, they should be required to follow any reasonable investigation to assure that all interested parties are notified of the pending tax sale. Real estate is too valuable an asset to permit slipshod inquiry into the ownership interests in such property.
There is no question that a county auditor should not be required to search through the entire court records of the county to ascertain possible interests in real estate. However, such is not the situation in the case at bar. As correctly quot ed by the majority, the United States Supreme Court in Mennonite held that where there is a publicly recorded mortgage, constructive notice by publication must be supplemented by notice mailed to the mortgagee.
The case at bar arose in a rural county with a relatively low population. As pointed out in the Court of Appeals opinion, Elizondo v. Read (1990), Ind.App., 553 N.E.2d 849, reh'g, 556 N.E.2d 959, if the statute is to be so strictly construed, as in the majority opinion of this Court, such construction would be unconstitutional in view of the holding in Mennonite as far as the mortgagee is concerned. So far as the Elizondos were concerned, the Court of Appeals correctly pointed out that their correct address was on file in the auditor's office although not in regard to the instant property. When the notice with regard to the delinquent taxes was returned to the auditor's office, it would have been a very simple operation to have ascertained the Elizondos' current address.
*506I believe the Court of Appeals correctly decided this case. I would therefore deny transfer.