Dwyer
v. Luzerne Co. Tax Claim Bureau – Cmwlth.Court – February 17, 2015
Commonwealth
Court affirmed lower court decision setting aside tax sale of partnership-owned
property where Partner/Owner B signed for certified mail notice sent to Partner/Owner
A – i.e., no notice delivered separately to non-signing partner A – and no
evidence in the record of authority of one to sign for certified mail for the
other.
The statutory
notice provision of the Law provides
that the Bureau shall give notice of the sale “[a]t least thirty (30) days
before the date of the sale, by United States certified mail, restricted
delivery, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, to each owner as defined
by this act.” 72 P.S. §5860.602(e)(1).
“Restricted delivery” is mail “delivered only
to the addressee or the person he specifically authorizes in writing to receive
his restricted delivery mail.” . . . Here, the receipt shows that the certified
mail addressed to Owner A was signed for by Owner B. “Even when a return receipt
is signed, the signature must belong to someone authorized by the owner to
accept certified mail.” . . . .There is nothing in the record evidencing Owner
B’s authority to sign for certified mail addressed to Owner A.
Because
Owner A did not sign for the certified mail addressed to him, in accordance
with section 607.1(a) of the Law, the Bureau was required to further
investigate his whereabouts. Specifically, section 607.1(a) of the Law requires
reasonable notification efforts when “mailed notification is either returned
without the required receipted personal signature of the addressee or under
other circumstances raising a significant doubt as to the actual receipt of
such notification by the named addressee . . . .” 72 P.S. §5860.607a(a).
Here,
the tax claim bureau conceded that although Owner A did not sign for the
certified mail addressed to him, the Bureau did not make any effort to discover
his whereabouts and notify him. Thus, the trial court properly concluded that
the Bureau failed to comply with the Law’s notice provision.
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