McPhee Henderson, LLC v. Washoe Cnty. ( 2015 )

 did not have a mailbox. The Treasurer published notice of the delinquent
taxes in the Reno Gazette Journal and recorded a tax deed and lien.
A tax sale was approved on October 11, 2011, and the
Treasurer requested a lot book and sent, by certified mail, tax sale notices
to the condo, to Chicago Title Insurance ServiceLink Division, and to
LaSalle Bank as trustee for Washington Mutual Mortgage. The letter to
the condo was returned as undeliverable. The Treasurer then sent a letter
to ServiceLink, inquiring about an alternate address for McPhee, but none
was available. The Treasurer also sent a tax sale notice to Kalanges,
twice posted notice on the condo's front door, and published notice in the
Reno Gazette Journal four times. The property was sold at a tax sale on
April 25, 2012.
After the tax sale, McPhee Henderson sued, among others,
respondents Washoe County and the Treasurer to set aside the tax sale.
Respondents moved to dismiss, providing evidence of their attempts to
notify McPhee Henderson of the delinquent taxes and the tax sale. The
district court granted the motion to dismiss, finding that the Treasurer
made reasonable attempts to notify McPhee Henderson of the tax sale
under NRS 361.595(3)(b). This appeal followed.
Initially, because the district court considered evidence
outside of the complaint, the district court converted the motion to dismiss
into a motion for summary judgment. NRCP 12(b). We review an order
granting a motion for summary judgment de novo. Wood v. Safeway, Inc.,
121 Nev. 724, 729, 121 P.3d 1026, 1029 (2005).
NRS 361.595(3)(b) requires the Treasurer to mail the tax sale
notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner of the
parcel shown on the tax roll and to any other person or entity who appears
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to have an interest in the parcel. If the return receipt is returned
unsigned, "the county treasurer must make a reasonable attempt to locate
and notify the owner or other person or governmental entity before the
sale." Id. Here, the return receipt for the tax sale notice to McPhee
Henderson at the condo was returned unsigned. McPhee Henderson
argues that the Treasurer did not then "make a reasonable attempt to
locate and notify" it of the tax sale. It argued, among other things, that in
addition to the actions that the Treasurer took, the Treasurer should have
attempted to contact the homeowners' association identified in the lot book
and searched for an address for Ken Matsumura, whose name (without an
address) was referenced on a check from ServiceLink for a 2008 tax
payment.
Over the course of several years, the Treasurer mailed notices
regarding the delinquent taxes and the tax sale to the property, to
Sanford, who was the only person listed as the manager and registered
agent for McPhee Henderson on the Nevada Secretary of State's website,
to an address for Lauri Kalanges, to Chicago Title Insurance ServiceLink
Division, and to LaSalle Bank as trustee for Washington Mutual
Mortgage. The Treasurer also published notice of the delinquent taxes
and the tax sale in the Reno Gazette Journal, recorded a tax deed and lien,
and physically posted notice of the tax sale on the condo's door. In these
circumstances, while it certainly would have been helpful for the
Treasurer to contact the homeowners' association or to attempt to search
for an address for Matsumura, the Treasurer's failure to take these
actions do not render unreasonable the actions that she did take to locate
McPhee Henderson. Hence, the actions that the Treasurer took satisfied
her burden to "make a reasonable attempt to locate and notify" McPhee
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Henderson of the tax sale. NRS 361.595(3)(b); see also Jones v. Flowers,
547 U.S. 220, 226 (2006) (holding that, where the government is aware
that its attempt to notify a parcel owner of a tax sale has failed, due
process requires the government to take additional reasonable steps to
provide the parcel owner with notice of the tax sale); Bogart v. Lathrop, 90
Nev. 230, 232-33, 523 P.2d 838, 839-40 (1974) (requiring the Tax Receiver
to make a reasonable inquiry into the address of a taxpayer). Accordingly,
we
ORDER the judgment of the district court AFFIRMED.'
J.
Saitta
Gibbons Pickering
cc: Hon. Scott N. Freeman, District Judge
Carol Webster Millie, Settlement Judge
Law Offices of Thomas J. Hall
Washoe County District Attorney/Civil Division
Washoe District Court Clerk
'We decline to consider the qualified immunity issue because it is
moot, both because we affirm the judgment in the County's favor and
because McPhee Henderson alleged no monetary damages against the
County.
We have considered appellant's other arguments and conclude that
they lack merit.
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