Jones v. Flowers

Plaintiff owned a house at 717 North Bryan Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, for which he failed to pay property taxes. After three years of delinquency, Defendant Wilcox sent a letter via certified mail to Plaintiff’s address, informing him of his delinquency and that he had two years to pay his back taxes or the property would be sold. The letter was returned as “unclaimed.” Two years after the letter was returned, Defendant Wilcox published a notice of public sale in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The advertisement did not receive a response, so a private sale of the property was arranged with Defendant Flowers. Before the purchase wrapped up, Defendant Wilcox sent another letter to Plaintiff, which was also returned as “unclaimed.” Defendant Flowers then purchased the house and personally served a detainer notice on the property, which was accepted by Plaintiff’s daughter. Plaintiff was notified and sued Defendants in an Arkansas state court, claiming that the sale of his house violated his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights because he was never actually notified of the sale. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants. The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed. Plaintiff appealed.