Opinion
652 C.D. 2021 653 C.D. 2021
03-02-2022
In Re: Darlene M. Lay v. County of Erie Tax Claim Bureau v. Daniel Bolla, as Executor of the Estate of Lawrence C. Bolla, Appellant In Re: Darlene M. Lay v. County of Erie Tax Claim Bureau v. Daniel Bolla, as Executor of the Estate of Lawrence C. Bolla Appeal of: County of Erie Tax Claim Bureau
Submitted: February 7, 2022
AMENDING ORDER
CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, JUDGE
AND NOW, this 2nd day of March, 2022, the tenth sentence of the first full paragraph of the eighth page of the slip memorandum opinion in the above-matter, filed March 2, 2022, is amended to reflect the following correction (deleting text inadvertently included in a quotation from the trial court's Opinion of the Court filed May 12, 2021):
This matter hinges, however, on the additional requirement contained in Section 601(a)(3) of the RETSL that the Bureau personally serve an "owner-occupant" of a property subject to an upset sale with notice of that sale. The RETSL defines "owner-occupant" as "the owner of a property which has improvements constructed thereon and for which the annual tax bill is mailed to an owner residing at the same address as that of the property." Section 102 of the RETSL, 72 P.S. § 5860.102. As the trial court observed, the plain text of this definition "contains four necessary elements: (1) an owner-occupant must be an owner of the property; (2) the property must have improvements constructed thereon; (3) the annual tax bill for the that property must be mailed to an owner at the property; and (4) such owner referenced in prong three must reside at the property." Trial Court Opinion at 29; see also Commonwealth v. Giulian, 141 A.3d 1262, 1267 (Pa. 2016) ("A statute's plain language generally provides the best indication of legislative intent.").