Beaver County Common Pleas Judge Gus Kwidis is under file this week after he ordered the home of a widow, Eileen Battisti sold for failure to pay $6.30 in unpaid interest to the county. Kwidis ruled that Battisti had ample notice and only has herself to blame for losing her home. Others see the blame lying elsewhere in a decision that elevated a de minimus violation above simple justice.
Battisti’s husband took care of these bills but passed away. She says that she never noticed the remaining $6.30 due on interest. However, Kwidis held that the county tax claim bureau complied with notification requirements in state law before the auction and “[t]here is no doubt that (she) had actual receipt of the notification of the tax upset sale on July 7, 2011, and Aug. 16, 2011. Moreover, on Aug. 12, 2011, a notice of sale was sent by first class mail and was not returned.”
However, there remains that little question of justice — and the notion of discretion. If there is no role for a court to play in such matters, we could handle these cases by computer.
The couple had previously owed other taxes, but at the time of the sale owed just $235, including other interest and fees. They sold the house from under her for $116,000. Such sales usually generate low prices as distress sales.
Joe Askar, Beaver County’s chief solicitor, insisted that the country and the judge were right in forcing the sale, but then added “It’s bad – she had some hard times, I guess her husband kind of took care of a lot of that stuff. It seemed that she was having a hard time coping with the loss of her husband – that just made it set in a little more.” It is remarkable that Askar would acknowledge such mitigating circumstances over less than seven bucks and yet believe that this was an appropriate and justifiable act. It cost more for the prosecutors and court to meet to issue the order. It cost more to actually put the property up for sale. Yet, even with the mitigating factor of her husband’s death, this was not viewed as sufficient reason for a modicum of mercy.
Source: Washington Post
“Kwindis” what nationality is that? I decent judge would have given the plaintiff a $10 bill out of his own pocket, and then told plaintiff’s attorney to never return to his court!
Cloven Bundy is free to flout federal laws, but this person is put out of her home?
These pieces of crap exist because the system is broke and there’s no longer accountability. You cannot fix crap. It has to be flushed. I think it was a Stephen King character who said you can’t polish shit.
Remember Timothy Geithner? Nothing happened to him because he owed back taxes. In fact, he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. Go figure!
Timothy Geithner says he regrets tax mistakes
WASHINGTON
By Barbara Hagenbaugh and Sue Kirchhoff
USA TODAY
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=6704526
Excerpt:
Treasury secretary nominee Timothy Geithner on Wednesday said he made “careless mistakes” when he did not pay all of his taxes while working at the International Monetary Fund and apologized to senators for adding to their burden when the economy is in the midst of a severe recession.
“These were careless mistakes,” Geithner told members of the Senate Finance Committee during his nearly four-hour confirmation hearing. “They were avoidable mistakes, but they were unintentional. I should have been more careful. I take full responsibility.”
Geithner, now the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has been under fire since it was revealed last week that he did not pay his taxes in full while at the IMF from 2001 to 2004. International organizations such as the IMF are exempted from Social Security taxes, so U.S. citizens who work there are supposed to pay them as if they are self-employed. Geithner did not.
Geithner, who as Treasury secretary would be in charge of the IRS, paid back taxes for 2003 and 2004 after an IRS audit in 2006. Geithner paid further back taxes and interest after similar problems for his 2001 and 2002 returns were discovered during vetting by the Obama team.
Elaine – nothing happened to Timmy because he was a good Democrat. This is Timmy’s Treasury Dept. in action.
http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/04/woman-loses-tax-refund-over-37-year-old-debt-to-social-security/
The county sold the property for $100K+.
That is incentive enough to grab it from an unknowing aging woman.
I think a civil rights claim can be made, on a takings clause violation.
If she owed $7, they could have seized her mailbox or garbage can instead.
There were any number of things they could have done. Taking the property was the most profitable for the county.
Enutians apparenti.
What kind justice is this? It’s nothing less than cruel. I can only imagine what this poor widow must be feeling regarding her own country about now. I hope she has a supportive loving family.
mespo est wisw
The pity is that any one of us, had we known about it, would have happily paid her little debt ! I cannot fathom that no-one in this process, let alone that stupid merciless judge, didn’t just cover it to give her a break. !
How many of these situations happen to people, without anyone realizing –
and now notice ‘they’ are letting the Cliven Bundy idiot owe $1 million and just leaving him alone now ??? There seems to be very little real justice going on in this country.
“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.”
― Margaret Atwood,
Latin students, the word for today, in the body of this post is de minimus. Now, use it in a sentence.
I, personally, would like to know how the judge got ‘under file’ and what does that consist of? Usually I am not a spelling or grammar nazi but this one has me curious.
We have no mercy for humans in this country. If this case involved a corporation, this judge would last another minute on the bench.,
Ok, Paul, You think you own the property in which you live on. Is this one of those gotcha moments? I’ve seen a 250k business go for 5k in back taxes. Unfortunately due process was afforded this woman. The issue is the small amount. Everyone should be ashamed.
This woman does not have the money, sadly, but I think this is appealable.
It’s tragic and made worse by jackbooted, ignorant municipal employees that are more concerned about their pension checks than justice, fairness or ethics. Couldn’t one of these soulless government ‘workers’ have cut a $7 check for this poor woman? These heartless cretins deserve all the bad press they are receiving….
deliver = delivery
I thought that deliver by mail was no longer a legal standard. Just because you mail something first class does not mean it ever got there. I get my neighbors’ mail all the time.
Issac, I agree, this judge is a despicable person, unworthy to hold any position of trust in a government. I’d say send him to live in the dog kennel except the dogs deserve better company.
This is not justice. This is not a judge. This is simply a megalomaniac that has found himself in the playpen where he can bully and make his own perverse opinions reality. This guy should be treated a hundred times worse than how he treated his victim.
The county could have easily placed a lean on the house for the $6 and collected when the house was sold. The county was never in danger of losing its taxes.
This judge is the worst sort of fool. He denigrates justice in America. He denigrates himself and those that support him.
Reblogged this on Reality Check.