Supreme Court Addresses Notice of Foreclosure Sales

When a property owner fails to pay real estate taxes, due process requires that the state make reasonable efforts to notify the owner of the resulting foreclosure proceeding. State and local statutory schemes often require the state to notify the owner by regular or certified mail. But if the notification is returned unclaimed or undeliverable, must the state make additional efforts to notify the owner? In <i>Jones v. Flowers</i>, 2006 U.S. Lexis 3451, the Supreme Court recently addressed this question, and held that when notice of a tax sale, sent certified mail, is returned to the state unclaimed, the due process clause requires the State to take 'additional reasonable steps' to provide notice to the property owner prior to the sale. The language of the Jones opinion casts doubt on the validity of the leading New York case on this issue, <i>Kennedy v. Mossafa</i>, 100 N.Y.2d 1.