L. Lee and v. Evstafieva v. Luzerne County TCB, L. Lee and v. Evstafieva v. Luzerne County TCB

In 2005 Appellants purchased a parcel that had been used and registered as a cemetery (Westminster Memorial Gardens), but the cemetery registration had lapsed and taxes were unpaid.
After purchase Appellants discovered interments continued because Westminster had pre-sold plots; Appellants did not intend to operate the cemetery or sell plots.
In 2012 Appellants stopped paying taxes, claiming burial-ground tax exemption, and filed a petition (Aug. 29, 2012) seeking: retrospective tax-exempt status, tax refunds, and reversal/refund of the 2005 judicial tax sale.
The Luzerne County Tax Claim Bureau defended, arguing Appellants neither applied for exemption nor have standing to challenge prior assessment/sale and raised statute-of-limitations defenses.
The trial court denied the petition; Appellants appealed. The Commonwealth Court affirmed, holding the challenge to the 2005 sale time-barred and denying retroactive exemption relief absent a timely application.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the 2005 judicial tax sale can be set aside	Lee: sale must be set aside because property is a burial ground and sale was improper	Bureau: challenge barred by statute of limitations; taxes were levied against Westminster, not purchasers	Denied — action to set aside judicial sale barred by 6-month statute of limitations
Whether property is tax-exempt as a burial ground retroactively to time of purchase	Lee: property was a burial ground and should be exempt from taxes since purchase	Bureau: no timely exemption application or assessment challenge by Lee	Denied — retroactive exemption unavailable; owner must affirmatively apply for exemption
Whether Appellants can get refund of purchase price/costs from 2005 sale	Lee: requests refund of bid price and costs due to improper sale	Bureau: barred by statute of limitations and laches; purchasers lacked standing to challenge prior owner’s taxes	Denied — time-barred and likely barred by laches; standing issues to challenge taxes levied against previous owner
Whether Appellants may now obtain exemption going forward without applying	Lee: seeks current and future tax-exempt status	Bureau: Appellants never sought statutory relief or appealed assessments	Denied — court cannot grant exemption without proper application or statutory procedure

City of Pittsburgh v. Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review of the County of Allegheny, 412 A.2d 655 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1980) (property owner must affirmatively request tax-exempt status)
In re Petition of Mausoleum Construction Company, 423 A.2d 809 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1980) (courts lack jurisdiction to retroactively grant exemptions not timely sought)
In re Appeal of Borough of Riegelsville from the Bucks County Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes, 979 A.2d 399 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2009) (taxable status fixed at time of assessment; changes take effect the following year)
Pfeifer v. Westmoreland County Tax Claim Bureau, 127 A.3d 848 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2015) (statute of limitations for upset tax sale challenges)
Plank v. Monroe County Tax Claim Bureau, 735 A.2d 178 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1999) (purchasers lack standing to challenge taxes levied against prior owner)
In Re: York County Tax Claim Bureau, 3 A.3d 765 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2010) (standard of review for denial of petition to set aside tax sale)