182 So. 2d 477 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1966
The validity of a tax deed is the subject matter of this case. By their appeal the plaintiffs, referred to herein as Bailey, question the chancellor’s final order which dismissed the complaint, with prejudice.
Parcel #1 Minerva Bradley 221 Chandler Ave. Pontiac 20, Mich.
Parcel #2 Lena B. Randall 221 Chandler Ave. Pontiac 20, Mich.
and it was to these persons at the above addresses that the clerk mailed copies of the respective notices of application for tax deed. A tax deed for the two parcels was issued on January 4, 1960, based upon the 1957, 1958 and 1959 certificates. The clerk did not mail anything to Plaintiff Bailey, and it is his primary contention that by the terms of Section 194.18(1), Florida Statutes, F.S.A., he was entitled to (1) notice of application for tax deed, and (2) the statutory warning. In addition Bailey contends that the clerk should have executed a certificate of mailing notice.
The nub of plaintiff’s contention is that Section 194.18(1), Florida Statutes, F.S.A.
Bailey insists that the legal owner of the property is entitled to notice if his name appears in either of two places — on the last extended tax roll, or if not there, in the most recent tax collector’s receipt book which reflects therein the name and address of the person last paying taxes on the lands — and cites as his primary authority the case of Heinberg v. Andress.
Reading salient words of the statute in their normal context, we are persuaded that when the legislature provided “ * * * the clerk of the circuit court shall mail a copy of such notice to the owner of the property * * * if the name and address of such persons appear on the tax roll for the year in which taxes were last extended on such property * * * ” it meant that notice was to be given to the name of the person appearing under the heading of “name of owner and address” in the last extended tax roll at the address so stated, and if such name and address appeared in such location, the last extended tax roll was the end of the Clerk’s search for the “owner”. And the language of the subject statute — ■“ * * * or if the name and address of such persons do not appear thereon then the notice shall be mailed to the person last paying taxes upon such lands as shown by the tax collector’s receipt book * * * ” — must be construed as directing the clerk to turn to the tax collector’s receipt book only if the name and address column in the last extended tax roll was incomplete. Had the legislature intended that the clerk ascertain the “legal owner” so as to be advised to mail to one or both persons as appellant contends, then it could have easily done so. The legislature was not so advised and we will not indulge in a judicial construction of the statute that does not comport with what we find to be the clear intent of the scrivener.
Finally, appellant contends that the clerk failed to execute the certificates as to the mailing of the notices of tax deed application. The record reveals that the requisite notices were properly addressed and mailed by registered mail to the persons entitled to notice. Said notices were returned to the clerk with the notation on the respective envelopes that same was unclaimed and placed in the clerk’s file. The obvious purpose and intent of the legislature in requiring the execution of the certificate of mailing notice by the clerk was to place in the file adequate proof that such notices were mailed, and the “proof of the pudding” was evident to any person making a casual examination of the subject file. We are not unmindful of the language used by this court in Holmes v. Kiser,
“It would not be in keeping with either the letter or the spirit of the law to ■ change the form of the statutory certificate and require all interested persons to search through the file in the office of the clerk of the circuit court in order to determine or speculate as to the names and addresses of persons to whom the notice may have been sent, through an examination of checkmarks, notations, carbon copies, or the like.”
Affirmed.
. The pertinent part of Section 194.18(1), Florida Statutes, is: “In addition to the publication of the notice provided for by § 194.16 the clerk of the circuit court shall mail a copy of such notice to the owner of the property and to each mortgagee, if any, if the name and address of such persons appear on the tax roll for the year in which taxes were last extended on such property or if the name and address of such persons do not appear thereon then the notice shall be mailed to the person last paying taxes upon such lands as shown by the tax collector’s receipt book and in the event no address be shown thereon no notice shall be required; * * * and the clerk shall enclose with every copy mailed a statement as follows: ‘Warning, property in which you are interested is listed in the copy of the enclosed notice’; and the clerk shall make out and attach to the affidavit to the publisher attesting to the publication of such notice, a certificate that he, the clerk, did on the.day of.19..., mail a copy of the notice addressed to . at . .... which certificate shall be signed by the clerk and his official seal affixed thereto; * *
. Heinberg v. Andress, 45 So.2d 488 (Fla. 1950).
. Holmes v. Kiser, 138 So.2d 782 (Fla.App. 1st, 1962).