Pontes v. Lapatin (In Re Pontes)

OPINION AND ORDER

ARTHUR N. VOTOLATO, Bankruptcy Judge.

At issue apparently for the first time in this District is the constitutionality of the Rhode Island tax sale statute which has been routinely used in all of the cities and towns of this State since 1896.

The Debtor, a Providence resident, contends that the tax sale of his home, conducted pursuant to Rhode Island law, failed to provide him with meaningful notice of the right to redeem his property, and that the present statutory scheme violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and 42…