Court of Appeals – Tax foreclosure notice: Nutter v. County of Saratoga, et al.

New York State Court of Appeals

Tax foreclosure notice

Certified mailing – Question of fact

Nutter v. County of Saratoga, et al.

No 19

Judge Cannataro

Background: The defendant commenced an in rem tax foreclosure proceeding against the property at issue. It is alleged that the count mailed a copy of the petition, notice of foreclosure and notice of commencement of the tax foreclosure proceeding to the plaintiff’s address that was listed on the mortgage it held on the property via both certified and first class mail. Neither the certified nor first class mailing was returned as undeliverable. The plaintiff’s compliance specialist responsible for receiving tax foreclosure notices averred that no such documents were received. The plaintiff’s vice president swore that he was not aware of four years of delinquent taxes. After default judgment was entered against the plaintiff, the plaintiff commenced an action for vacatur. The plaintiff appeals from the grant of summary judgment to the defendant.

Ruling: The Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff was permitted to raise a question of fact regarding whether the taxing authority complied with the statutory notice requirements in Section 1125(1)(b) notwithstanding the absence of evidence that both the certified and first class mailings were returned.

Gregory N. Blase for the appellant; Karla Williams Buettner for the respondents.

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