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Vesta Holdings I LLC v. Tax Comm'r of Fulton County

The "first in time, first in right" rule applies to the priority of competing, but equally ranked tax liens.

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Vesta Holdings I, L.L.C., appeals from the Fulton County Superior Court’s judgment in favor of Arthur E. Ferdinand, the Fulton County Tax Commissioner. We find the trial court erred by denying Vesta’s petition. Therefore, we reverse the judgment and remand with direction.

As will be seen below, the facts in this case are not in dispute. Therefore, this Court conducts a de novo review of the record in determining whether the trial court committed plain legal error. Vansant v. State, 264 Ga. 319, 320 1 443 SE2d 474 1994. The record shows that the City of Atlanta condemned certain private property in Fulton County for a sewer easement, for which it paid $42,000 into the court’s registry. Under OCGA § 22-2-140, the court was authorized to disburse these funds to satisfy existing tax liens. Both Vesta and Fulton County petitioned the court for payment from the $42,000 condemnation proceeds to satisfy tax liens they held on the property. At that time, Fulton County held tax liens for unpaid 2001 county taxes in the amount of $2,867.49, for 2001 city taxes in the amount of $6,271.85, and for 1995 city taxes in the amount of $8,250.21. The county had previously transferred fi. fas. on city and county taxes from the years of 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 to Vesta, pursuant to OCGA § 48-3-19.1 After these transfers, Vesta held liens for county taxes in the amount of $12,958.92 and for city taxes totaling $32,379.71. Following a hearing on the parties’ petitions for payment on their liens, the trial court granted the county’s petition while denying Vesta’s request.

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