Ribeiro

A jury found in favor of Johnny R. Ribeiro against the County of El Dorado (County), finding Ribeiro had the right to rescind a tax-sale contract and recover his deposit, due to a unilateral mistake of fact caused by the County. The County timely appealed.

On appeal, the County contends the trial court should have granted its motion for a nonsuit because the doctrine of caveat emptor (buyer beware) applies at tax sales, except where displaced by statute, and no statute authorizes Ribeiro’s claim.

This appeal requires us to decide whether a purchaser of tax-defaulted property from a public entity at a tax sale is limited to the remedies provided by Revenue and Taxation Code section 3725 et seq. 1 or may also pursue traditional contract remedies.

This issue was debated in three cases. Two cases explain that, according to precedent, caveat emptor applies at tax sales, and absent an explicit statutory remedy, the buyer has no remedy. (Van Petten v. County of San Diego (1995) 38 Cal.App.4th 43 [ 44 Cal.Rptr.2d 816 ] (Van Petten); Craland, Inc. v. State of California (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 1400 [ 263 Cal.Rptr. 255 ] (Craland).) One *357 case, in a split decision, concluded…