Delta Property Management, Inc. v. Profile Investments, Inc.

Summary

The Florida Supreme Court held that the law-of-the-case doctrine did not bar consideration of whether additional notice was required after certified-mail notice of a tax sale was returned undeliverable. Applying Jones v. Flowers and Vosilla v. Rosado, the Court held that due process required the clerk to take additional reasonable steps to notify the property owner. Because the clerk took no additional steps, the Court invalidated the tax deed and remanded for affirmance of summary judgment in favor of Delta.

Holdings

1. The law-of-the-case doctrine does not bar consideration of a legal question that was not actually presented and decided in a former appeal, even if the question could have been raised earlier.
2. When a clerk learns before a tax sale that certified-mail notice was returned undeliverable, due process requires the clerk to take additional reasonable steps to attempt to notify the legal titleholder if practicable.
3. The tax deed was invalid because the clerk took no additional reasonable steps after learning that the certified-mail notice was not successfully delivered.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the law-of-the-case doctrine barred consideration of Delta's argument that the clerk had to take additional reasonable steps after certified-mail notice of the tax sale was returned undeliverable.
2. Whether due process required the clerk to take additional reasonable steps to notify Delta before the tax sale after learning that the certified-mail notice was unsuccessful.
3. Whether the failure to take additional reasonable steps rendered Profile's tax deed invalid.

Disposition

quashed