Opinion
May 26, 1952.
Respondents were formerly the owners of six vacant lots in Hicksville, Nassau County. In July, 1924, the property was sold for unpaid taxes of the year 1922, and on November 7, 1947, a tax deed was taken by the plaintiff county. In March, 1948, an action was brought by plaintiff, under article 7-B of the Tax Law, to establish the regularity of the tax sale and the title to the real estate resulting therefrom. On May 21, 1948, judgment was entered on respondents' default adjudging that respondents were barred from any interest in the property and that plaintiff was the lawful owner thereof based on the tax sale certificate purchased in July, 1924, and the tax deed delivered in November, 1947. Service on respondents of process in the action was by publication and by mailing to an old address which appeared in the records of the County Clerk, although the true address appeared in the office of the receiver of taxes. Appellant Woodbury Land Corporation is an innocent purchaser, for value, of the property by deed dated March 13, 1951. The conceded fact is that the tax for which the property was sold had been paid. On January 10, 1952, the County Court granted respondents' motion to vacate the judgment insofar as it purported to affect title to the real property involved on the grounds: (1) that an owner of real property who has paid his taxes in full may not be deprived of his title without actual notice of an action to bar his title, and (2) that the search in the County Clerk's office prior to the institution of the article 7-B action was insufficient and a reasonably exhaustive search would have revealed a source from which the true address of respondents might have been ascertained. Plaintiff and the Woodbury Land Corporation appeal. Order of the County Court, Nassau County, affirmed, with $10 costs and disbursements, on the ground first mentioned. ( County of Nassau v. Davis, 265 App. Div. 856, appealed dismissed 291 N.Y. 736.) Carswell, Acting P.J., Johnston, Wenzel, MacCrate and Schmidt, JJ., concur.