Filed: Dec. 04, 2014
Latest Update: Dec. 04, 2014
Summary: On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 08A02-1303-MI-220 DICKSON, Justice . The facts in this case parallel those of Twin Lakes v. Ray, 08S04-1402-MI-97, ___ N.E.3d ___, 2014 WL 6843641 (Ind. 2014), which we contemporaneously issue today. In both cases, the same trial court granted landowners' requests to remove their properties from the list of properties subject to tax sale, and Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District appealed, challenging the trial court's interpret
Summary: On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 08A02-1303-MI-220 DICKSON, Justice . The facts in this case parallel those of Twin Lakes v. Ray, 08S04-1402-MI-97, ___ N.E.3d ___, 2014 WL 6843641 (Ind. 2014), which we contemporaneously issue today. In both cases, the same trial court granted landowners' requests to remove their properties from the list of properties subject to tax sale, and Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District appealed, challenging the trial court's interpreta..
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On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 08A02-1303-MI-220
DICKSON, Justice.
The facts in this case parallel those of Twin Lakes v. Ray, 08S04-1402-MI-97, ___ N.E.3d ___, 2014 WL 6843641 (Ind. 2014), which we contemporaneously issue today. In both cases, the same trial court granted landowners' requests to remove their properties from the list of properties subject to tax sale, and Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District appealed, challenging the trial court's interpretation of Indiana Code section 13-26-14-4. For the same reasons expressed today in Ray, we also reverse the judgment of the trial court in the present case.
As we hold today in Ray, the lien foreclosure prohibition of Indiana Code section 13-26-14-4, governing the collection of regional sewer district sewer liens, does not apply to collection by tax sale. Here, because the District employed the tax sale method rather than seeking collection of the landowners' unpaid sewer bills and penalties through foreclosure, the lien fore-closure prohibition clause does not apply. The judgment of the trial court removing the land-owners' properties from the tax sale list is reversed, and this cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
RUSH, C.J., RUCKER, DAVID, and MASSA, JJ., concur.
FootNotes
1. Equity Trust Company FBO # 80677, was listed as a party by the Appellant District, but has not participated in this appeal. As noted by the Court of Appeals, these proceedings as to Equity Trust Company were procedurally different from those involving landowners Hruska and Hanna, and did not result in final action. Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District v. Hruska, 993 N.E.2d 635, 637-38 (Ind.Ct.App. 2013). The last trial court entry with respect to Equity Trust ordered its hearing "continued indefinitely." Appellant's App'x at 3.
