Pennsylvania Land Title Association v. East Stroudsburg Area School District
Nov 22, 2006OUTCOME: Cmwlth Ct. affirmed - 913 A.2d 961; Pet. for Allowance of Appeal denied. 929 A.2d 1163 (Pa. 2007)
School Districts hired Portnoff Law Offices to collect delinquent school taxes under MCTLA and failed to make returns of unpaid school taxes to Tax Claim Bureau as required under RETSL. By so doing, t ... he status of the payment of real estate taxes in the two school districts was not readily available to title searcher, attorneys or property owners. The Court held "that the School Districts, as public officials, have a ministerial duty to make returns of all delinquent school taxes to the Bureau in accordance with § 5860.306 of the RETSL; and the Plaintiffs ... have established that there is a lack of any other appropriate and adequate remedy. Accordingly, we find that Plaintiffs ... are entitled to peremptory judgment on the mandamus claims seeking to restore public tax records to the Monroe County Tax Claim Bureau and to insure the accurate satisfaction of municipal liens filed in the Monroe County Prothonotary's Office." 913 A.2d 961, 974 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2006) (Common Pleas Court Opinion drafted by this attorney for The Honorable Ronald E. Vican, P.J., (now Dec'd.)
