Monthly Archives: January 2018

In a split decision, the Indiana Court of Appeals recently affirmed a trial courts’ decision to revoke a tax deed.  In David L. Jenner and Vickie Jenner v. Bloomington Cellular Services, Inc. and Crown Castle South LLC, the majority of the Court determined that because the tax sale purchasers failed to notify interest holders outside the chain of title, they did not comply with the Indiana tax-sale statute, and were therefore not entitled to a tax deed for the property. The property at issue was acquired by Bloomington Cellular Services, Inc., in 1988, (“BCS”) and its title interest was properly recorded.  BCS subsequently merged with Westel Indianapolis Company (“Westel”), but Westel’s name was never substituted on the property’s title. In 1999, Westel leased the operation and maintenance of a cell tower on the Property to Crown Castle South, LLC (“Crown Castle”) and in 2000, Crown Castle recorded a supplemental lease agreement outside the Property’s chain of title.  Similarly, when Crown Castle subleased the cell tower to T-Mobile in 2009, the sublease agreement was also recorded outside the chain of title.  Crown Castle installed a prominently-placed sign on the Property, including its name and contact information, identifying it as the operator of the cell tower. In 2014, the Property was included in Monroe County’s tax sale, and the Jenners purchased the tax sale certificate.  As required by the tax sale statute, the Jenners conducted a title search and found only the interest of the original title owner, BCS.  The Jenners provided notice of the tax sale to…