Jones v. Flowers

Facts

In 1967, Gary Jones bought a house at 717 North Bryan Street in Little Rock, Arkansas. He lived there with his wife until they separated in 1993. Jones then moved to a Little Rock apartment, and his wife stayed in the house. While Jones paid his mortgage, the mortgage company paid the property taxes. After he paid off the mortgage in 1997, the taxes went unpaid and the property was certified as delinquent. In April 2000, Mark Wilcox, the Commissioner of State Lands, mailed a certified letter to Jones at the North Bryan Street address. It said that unless Jones redeemed the property (paid what was owed to get it back), it would be subject to public sale on April 17, 2002. Nobody was home to sign for the letter, and nobody picked it up at the post office within 15 days. The post office returned it unopened, marked “unclaimed.” A few weeks before the sale, the State published a notice in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. No one bid, so the State negotiated a private sale. After Linda Flowers made an offer, the Commissioner mailed a second certified letter to the same address. It also came back unclaimed. Flowers bought the house, which the parties had stipulated was worth $80,000, for $21,042.15. After the 30-day period for redemption after the sale passed, Flowers had an unlawful detainer notice delivered to the house. Jones' daughter was served, and she told Jones about the tax sale.

Issues

1. When mailed notice of a tax sale is returned unclaimed, does the Due Process Clause require the State to take additional reasonable steps to notify the property owner before selling his property?
2. Were additional reasonable steps available to Arkansas here, and did its newspaper notice or the owner's own failures excuse it from taking them?

Holding

When Arkansas' certified letter to Jones came back unclaimed, the State had to take additional reasonable steps to try to notify him before selling his house, if practicable. Such steps were available, such as resending by regular mail, posting notice on the front door, or addressing mail to “occupant.” Given the circumstances, the Commissioner's effort, a newspaper notice and a second certified letter to the same address, was insufficient to satisfy due process.