Mаrcel and Ruth Schwartz, residents of Maryland, brought suit to set aside a collector’s déed to real estate located in Columbia, Missouri, formerly owned by them and sold at a tаx sale to Alberta L. and Marion W. Dey. The trial court rejected appellants’ constitutional challenge to the notice provisions of statutes empowеring the Collector to collect property taxes and sell land for taxes owed, and granted a motion to dismiss in favor of the Deys. §§ 139.010, 140.170, RSMo 1978. Reversed and remanded.
Appellants contend that the notice provisions of sections 139.010 and 140.170, RSMo 1978, are constitutionally deficient; that sections 52.230 and 52.240, RSMo 1978, are inapplicable to nоn-resident taxpayers; and that the Deys paid inadequate consideration for the property. Respondents assert that the questioned statutes are constitutional; that the Collector’s actions were constitutionally sufficient; that a property owner, resident or non-resident, has an obligation to satisfy his tax liability regardless of the receipt of a tax bill; and that inadequate consideration is not a ground for setting aside a collector’s deed. Because of the Court’s disposition of the constitutional questions, it is unnecessary to address the issue of consideration.
Appellants’ constitutional argument is that the notices of taxes owed and notiсes of impending tax sale were constitutionally inadequate because they failed actually to apprise them of their liability. They assert
In 1978, the Schwartzes, residents of Potomac, Maryland, purchased property in Boone County, Missouri. The address of the property was listed on the warranty deed as 320 West Boulevard North, Columbia, Missouri. This was the only address provided by purchasers to the Collector. Soon after their purchase, they leased the premises to оthers until the property was ultimately sold to the Deys at a tax offering in 1982 for $2550.
Prior to the tax sale the Collector of Boone County had attempted to colleсt then current taxes on the property from the Schwartzes. He did not post handbills nor did he publish notices of taxes due in a local paper. § 139.010, RSMo 1978. Instead, he mailеd computer-generated notices of taxes due to “Schwartz Marcel and Ruth A., 320 West Boulevard North, Columbia, MO.” The Collector mailed these notices for the tax yеars 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981. Each notice was returned by the post office marked “not deliverable as addressed; unable to forward.”
The Collector then began to mail noticеs of delinquent taxes due. § 52.285, RSMo 1979. These notices were also addressed to the Schwartzes at their last known address, the address of the property in question, in Columbia. The first nоtices stated that the property would be sold if the taxes were not paid before August 25, 1980. The following year the notices stated that the property would be sold August 24, 1981, аs advertised. In 1982, the notices read “[l]and will be sold if taxes not paid prior to August 23, 1982.” Each notice was returned by the post office. Pursuant to statutory directive, the Colleсtor also published notices of tax sale in the Columbia Daily Tribune. § 140.170, RSMo 1978. All of these notices failed to produce a response. The Collector then consulted the local telephone directory in an attempt to locate the owners; he found no listing. He then consulted his personal tax files, but again found no listing. Finally, the Collector sold the property to the Deys.
In Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co.,
Cases decided subsequent to Mul-lane, supra, have added to that holding; and it is now established that the right to meaningful notice extends to actions affecting property interests in a variety of circumstances and that due process imposes corresponding duties upon those who would affect the rights of holders of such property interests: Covey v. Town of Som-ers,
Appellants аllege that upon further inquiry the Collector could easily have obtained their actual address. They assert that resort to other official records would have disclosed that address. They also claim that a visit to the property itself would have put the Collector in touch with a tenant who would have seen that the Collector received a proper address. There is also reference to a real estate agent who “managed” the property.
The record beforе the Court, however, does not indicate the means at the Collector’s disposal by which he could conceivably have obtained the Schwartzes’ actual аddress; the trial court granted dismissal in favor of the Deys before such evidence could be adduced. Under Mul-lane and Mennonite, supra, the facts of this case raise justiciable constitutional questions concerning the duty to afford a non-resident owner meaningful notice. It can no longer be said that a property owner’s duty to supervise his property interest in all cases outweighs the duty of a taxing authority to provide him with constitutionally sufficient notice. See Comment, The Constitutionality of Notice by Publication in Tax Sale Proceеdings, 84 Yale L.J. 1505, 1515-16 (1975). The posture of this case demonstrates that the parties should be afforded the opportunity to develop a record upon which a court сould assess the means available to the Collector in balance with the duties imposed by due process. Bankers Union Life Insurance Co. v. Floy Hanks & Mistwood,
The judgment of dismissal is reversed and the cause is remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
