County Quashed In Attempt To Take 8-Acre Property From Owner Over Failure To Include $24 Interest With Delinquent Tax Payment, Rules NY Appeals Court

In Canandaigua, New York, the Daily Messenger reports:

• A Monks Road property owner has won his court case against Ontario County. The state Appellate Division’s Fourth Department ruled Friday that Bruce Middlebrook should be allowed to keep his 8-acre wooded parcel the county had scheduled to be auctioned off last May for unpaid property taxes.

• “The record establishes” Middlebrook “in fact paid his property taxes by the deadline provided ... in order to avoid losing his property,” stated the court decision. Even assuming the property owner received notice he owed roughly $24 in interest on the delinquent property taxes, “that minor amount of interest would result in a disproportionately harsh result,” concluded the court.

• “We are pretty happy,” said Middlebrook’s attorney, David Whitcomb with Muehe and Newton, LLP in Canandaigua. He said the panel of seven judges ruled unanimously, recognizing his client shouldn’t lose his property over $24.

For more, see Canandaigua landowner wins county foreclosure case.

For the court decision, see Matter of County of Ontario, 2009 NY Slip Op 00912 (NYS Sup. Ct. App. Div., 4th Dept., February 6, 2009).

For an earlier report on this story, see County, homeowner battle over auction.