David Hill, Individually and dba DOH Oil Company v. Huntley Fort Gill, et al.

The Texas Tax Code provides a statute of limitations on challenges to a purchaser’s title to property acquired at a tax foreclosure sale. If a person was not served citation in the tax foreclosure suit, but continues paying property taxes following the tax sale, that person may challenge the validity of the tax sale at any time. Otherwise, a one-year limitations period applies, after which the purchaser has full title to the property. The Texas Supreme Court rejected the statute’s application to a claim that a tax sale was invalid because the foreclosed owner was not properly served. The court held that a statute can never limit the time to challenge a judgment taken without constitutionally adequate notice. The question presented, on which the States are deeply divided, is: Whether a statute can limit the time to challenge a tax sale for lack of constitutionally adequate notice to the owner, provided that the statute does not unreasonably limit the aggrieved owner’s time to enforce its rights.