Posted on 07/20/2007 1:19:42 PM PDT by BBell
A Slidell-area couple whose house was sold for a $1.63 property tax bill they knew nothing about will have clear title to their home today, thanks to a local businessman who paid to settle a years-old lawsuit with the land company that claimed their property.
"I don't even know who to thank," said Dolores Atwood. "But I'm relieved and happy that this is finally over . . . I'm relieved and tired."
Atwood and her husband, Kermit, will again be the unquestioned owners of their house at 4122 Dauphine St. because a St. Tammany Parish businessman and his partner volunteered to pay Jamie Land Co. to settle the suit that has kept the property in legal limbo for seven years, said their attorney, Gary Duplechain. The settlement was signed Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., Duplechain said, and paperwork was to be filed at the parish courthouse in Covington later Tuesday and today to clear the title to the property to the Atwoods.
Duplechain said the businessman, who wants to remain anonymous for now, stepped forward Monday after reading a story in The Times-Picayune about the couple's plight. The attorney said he could not disclose the settlement amount.
Jamie Land Co. President James Lindsay II said the agreement calls for the amount of the settlement to remain undisclosed.
"But it wasn't a lot of money," he said. "We've been willing to settle this thing all along."
In 1996, the couple's four-bedroom, two-bath home just north of Slidell was re-valued at $75,100, or $100 above the state homestead exemption, so they owed property taxes for the first time.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/07/elderly_couples_lives_in_limbo.html
It's nice someone stepped up to help these people out of this mess but I hate to see that land company get a penny.
A tax bill for $1.63 was sent to the Atwoods at a rural route address that no longer existed because it had been changed to a street address with the advent of the parish’s 911 emergency telephone system. The bill was returned undelivered to the Sheriff’s Office, which sold the property at its annual tax sale in July 1997 for the $1.63 in delinquent taxes, 10 cents interest and $125 in costs associated with the tax sale.
Only more of a reason why property taxes on primary residences, if not all property, should be banned by a Constitutional amendment.
Whoever allowed for this mess to happen should be drawn and quartered, or at least publicly flogged. How hard would it have been to drive to the property in question and talk to the people?
Live on Letterman: Stupid Government Tricks.
“A tax bill for $1.63 was sent to the Atwoods at a rural route address that no longer existed because it had been changed to a street address with the advent of the parish’s 911 emergency telephone system. The bill was returned undelivered to the Sheriff’s Office, which sold the property at its annual tax sale in July 1997 for the $1.63 in delinquent taxes, 10 cents interest and $125 in costs associated with the tax sale.”
Sounds like grounds for a lawsuit against the parish. After all, the parish changed the address and failed to update their tax records.
New Orleans-area Louisiana?
Sounds like the same shi**y-a$$ guvmint that hosed the south side of the state after Katrina.
(What party were those government employees again?)
how about a countersuit of Jamie Land? They’re just trying to protect their ridiculous profit they would have earned.
losing your home over $1.63 in taxes is a sin.
If this isn't a prime example of a criminal enterprise, then I don't know what is.
The county screwed up, apparently made zero effort to fix the problem, then screwed this family out of their home... over a $1.63 tax bill? Seems to me that someone should be in jail...
And of course, isn't it convenient that the re-value was just barely over the exemption level... what a coincidence...I am sure.
I'll bet a lot of other properties have been 're-valued' there similarly as the pols look for any tax-grab possible...
Man, everyone knows how seriously retarded Parish gubmint is and not to leave out LA gubmint in general!!
“Jamie” was probably buddy of sheriff and they both made enough for a nice fishing trip.
What the H E double hockey sticks is the Parish sending out a tax bill for a $1.63 anyway. My enegery company doesn’t cut my bill off if a pay a buck short by mistake, and they are practically nazi’s to begin with.
The people at Jamie Land Co. sound like prize pricks.
Slidell had an R mayor in the mid-1990’s...
I sure hope this guy did not pay very much. They had a good case.
Whoever allowed for this mess to happen should be drawn and quartered, or at least publicly flogged. How hard would it have been to drive to the property in question and talk to the people?
Gee, you mean actually work for my living? Man, I would investigate who was to blame and deduct the whole affair out of his/her paycheck for being such a dumb @ss.
Probably watch those late night info-mercials too.
Reminder - Pay property tax...
It’s just business as usual in that Third World country. Move along...nothing to see here.
I'm quite sure Jamie Land was aware of the redemption period and deliberately waited until it had expired to notify the homeowners.
FWIW, the assessor nullified the sale immediately after learning that the tax bill had been mailed to a non-existent address. It’s the land company who purchased the property that sued to get title.
To add to this couple’s misery, after Jamie Land filed suit to obtain title, Katrina hit and made their home inhabitable. Since they didn’t have clear title to their home, they have not been able to qualify for assistance to start rebuilding. According to the article, now they can get some relief.
I’m glad to see this story has, if not a happy ending, at least a promising one.
That is just too lenient. We both can agree that houses are something people work very hard their entire lives to afford. The fact that someone maliciously allowed something like this to occur in itself merits a more extreme response.
Slavery: state of a slave; servitude; drudgery
Subject: (adj) ruled by another; liable; prone; submissive
Bond: that which binds; obligation; state of being bonded; a writing by which a person binds himself
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A tax on your income (binds) you to the federal government for the annual amount they say you owe. Thus creating a situation where you are serving the federal government, (servitude).
But (slavery) is against the federal statutes of the United States, so how can a tax on income be legal?
Jamie Land Co obviously ordered the “Free and Clear” real estate course on TV. This sort of preying on the unfortunate for pennies is how they make money.
“We thought it was over and everything was fine,” Atwood said.
But two years later in 2002, when the couple decided to sell the house and got a $90,000 offer, “we learned there was a lien on our property,” Atwood said.
It wasn’t a lien, but a notice of pending litigation that was attached to the property’s listing in courthouse records, Tax Commission attorney Deborah L. Crain said. However, like a lien, “it does cloud the title to the property,” Crain said. “
The County tried to straighten it out but the land company would have none of it.
“In 1996, the couple’s four-bedroom, two-bath home just north of Slidell was re-valued at $75,100, or $100 above the state homestead exemption, so they owed property taxes for the first time.”
The country didn’t screw up; I suspect they intentionally appraised at 100 bucks over the cutoff for exemption.
Yet the original article to start this thread indicates that there WAS a tax sale... so which was it?
Yes the county screwed up but they did make an effort to fix the problem by getting the state Tax Commission to nullify the tax sale because the bill was mailed to a nonexistent address. This was also in the original article.
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