Warden

This is an appeal from a judgment quieting title and canceling a tax deed.

The respondent is a hotel corporation. It owned lots 8 and 9 of James Townsend’s subdivision of Los Angeles, according to the map thereof which was recorded in book 30, page 53, of miscellaneous records. April 21, 1923, this property was sold for delinquent street assessments to the appellant Grace P. Warden by the city superintendent for the sum of $111.74, pursuant to the Street Improvement Act of California. (Stats. 1903, p. 376; Act 8198, Deering’s Gen. Laws, 1923.)

May 17, 1924, upon appellant’s demand, tax deeds to these lots were executed and. delivered to the purchaser by the city engineer and superintendent of streets. The respondent was an active hotel corporation, whose articles of incorporation were on file in the county clerk’s office. It was the record holder of the lots in question. A street assessment for the sum of $22.83 against each of these lots became delinquent. Without personal service or knowledge on the part of respondent, these lots were sold and conveyed to the appellant. The certificate of sale and notice of purchase were fatally defective. There was a lack of due diligence on…