AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• The Plaintiff, Donna Almarez, owned property in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, which was sold at a tax sale to Defendant James Erbes due to Almarez's failure to pay property taxes. Despite efforts by the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD) to notify Almarez of the tax sale through various means, all mailings were returned undelivered, and Almarez claimed she did not receive actual notice of the sale. Almarez filed an action in district court to quiet title or set aside the tax sale, asserting that the notice provided by TRD was statutorily and constitutionally inadequate (paras 2-5).

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Plaintiff-Appellee: Argued that TRD’s attempts to notify her of the impending tax sale were unsuccessful, rendering the sale invalid due to failure to meet statutory and constitutional due process requirements (para 6).
• Defendant-Appellant: Contended that the tax sale notice was both statutorily and constitutionally adequate. Also argued that the Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was deficient for not addressing affirmative defenses and claimed TRD was a necessary and indispensable party to the action (paras 7-9).

Legal Issues

• Whether the tax sale notice provided to the Plaintiff was statutorily adequate (para 13).
• Whether the tax sale notice provided to the Plaintiff met constitutional due process requirements (para 17).

Disposition

• The Court of Appeals reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Almarez, finding that the tax sale notice was both statutorily and constitutionally adequate (paras 13, 17).

Reasons

• The Court of Appeals, with Judge Jennifer L. Attrep writing and Judges Shammara H. Henderson and Jane B. Yohalem concurring, based its decision on the interpretation of statutory and constitutional requirements for tax sale notices. The court referenced previous cases, including Cordova and Jones, to establish that the notice provided by TRD was reasonably calculated to inform Almarez of the tax sale. The court found that TRD's efforts, including mailing notices to Almarez's address by certified and regular mail, posting a red tag on the property, and publishing notices in a local newspaper, satisfied both statutory and constitutional due process requirements. The court concluded that Almarez's lack of actual notice did not invalidate the tax sale and reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in her favor, remanding for further proceedings consistent with this opinion (paras 10-24).