Returning to His Home Sweet Home

They say you can never go home again. Terrell Dotson proved them wrong.

More than a year after Los Angeles County sold the 86-year-old’s home to pay a $546 property tax bill that Dotson didn’t know he owed, he is once again living in his Inglewood condominium. Once again his name is on the deed.

“It’s just such a pleasure to be able to come home again,” Dotson said, as he sat eating Chinese food on the patio of his condo as painters completed their redecorating work. The retired factory worker and World War II veteran plans to move in today. Returning Dotson’s one-bedroom condo to him required no less than a lawsuit and help from the tax collector, a county supervisor and an attorney, as well as the contributions of concerned citizens.

Dotson’s story, first reported in The Times in February, drew widespread attention and prompted other homeowners to call county officials and say they, too, almost lost their homes because of taxes they never knew they owed.

Within days, 20 homes scheduled for auction were pulled from the sale until the county could determine whether the owners, who appeared on property records for decades, were like Dotson -- elderly and perhaps unaware of their tax obligation.

Dotson’s plight eventually triggered improvements in the way the county notifies property owners who are behind on their taxes, illustrating that “when a person is victimized, the situation can be turned around,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

Among Dotson’s new-found friends is Reuben Taylor, of the Inglewood Police Department.

“Sometimes things do work out for the best,” said Taylor, who is helping Dotson refurnish the condo. “By God’s grace, we were able to get justice for Mr. Dotson.”

That’s all Dotson ever wanted. He did not set out to change the system. Yet, Dotson’s ordeal resonated with anyone who has ever struggled to become a property owner, or been baffled by a property tax bill.

Dotson, single and with no children, purchased his home in 1995 with $92,500 in cash and paid his taxes each year, in person. But a few months after he purchased the home, the second installment of the annual tax bill became due. The original bill had been sent out in October in the previous owner’s name. According to county records, Dotson did not pay the bill.

Taxpayers have five years to pay a delinquent bill before the property is offered for sale. The problem, said Dotson and his supporters, is that nobody explained that to him. He continued paying his current tax bills, never knowing that the clock was ticking.

A small box printed on Dotson’s property tax bill warned that back taxes were due. It did not list an amount and, Dotson’s advocates would later say, was easy to miss. Dotson, thinking he was current, also missed two other warnings that back taxes were due.

So, when his condo was auctioned for $81,000 and he was forced to leave his home, Dotson was confused.

“When you get thrown out [of] your house and you don’t know why you got thrown out, that’s a miserable feeling,” he said.

Homeless and suffering from diabetes and cancer, Dotson ended up at the Inglewood Police Department and in the office of the Los Angeles NAACP. Neither dismissed his tale as the ramblings of an old man. Separately, both began trying to help.

Taylor and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People’s Vacie Thomas argued that Dotson’s history of paying his taxes, and the fact that he owned his home outright, should have indicated that he was not a scofflaw, but perhaps an older person who needed help.

The two contacted the county’s tax collector’s office and the office of Supervisor Burke. Eventually, the tax collector’s office agreed to rescind the sale, which was legal, and return the property to Dotson.

But Dotson needed the cooperation of the condo’s new owner, Rosalio Granados, and Granados refused.

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Harry Pregerson offered Dotson a room in an Inglewood facility for homeless veterans, which Dotson accepted. Burke’s office stepped up its efforts to assist.

Then there was the response from the public.

Some people gave $5. Some Orange County residents raised $11,000 and, in the office of the NAACP, presented the money to Dotson for housing and furniture. Other donors, who wished to remain anonymous, also helped.

“I was really surprised by the outpouring we received,” Thomas said. “There were a variety of individuals who were concerned and wanted to assist in any way they could.”

Dotson saw it all as a gift from God.

“I appreciate every thing, every idea, every gift the public has donated,” he said. “I feel the Lord has blessed me. I feel extremely grateful.”

Taylor enlisted the help of attorney Jim Hinds, who eventually filed the lawsuit against the county and the purchaser of the property. The donations meant Dotson’s attorney could also bargain again with Granados, who months before turned down an offer to rescind the sale if the county gave him all his money back and supporters pitched in an additional $10,000.

A postal worker, Granados said he had faced harassment after news accounts, and believed he was being victimized, Hinds said.

And Granados had other worries. In addition to purchasing Dotson’s home in the February auction, he had purchased at least two other properties in northern Los Angeles County. Those other properties were less than desirable land.

Eventually the two sides struck a deal. Granados would return Dotson’s property to the county and receive his $81,000 back. In exchange, the county would also rescind the sale of the other properties that Granados no longer wanted, said Mark Saladino, the Los Angeles County tax collector. Usually, such sales are considered final.

Lastly, Granados demanded an additional $25,000 from Dotson, who paid the amount from donations.

Because of Dotson’s ordeal, a series of changes were approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Whereas the county previously sent only one delinquent tax notice, now, each year, the county will send those with back taxes due a separate reminder notice explaining what is owed. The box on the tax bill will still be there, but now, the note will be printed on a bright pink background. The office is preparing those notices now, Saladino said.

The county also created what it calls “third party notification,” which allows homeowners to identify a relative or friend who will be notified in the event the homeowner’s taxes are unpaid.

In Sacramento, state Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) sponsored a bill that would require counties throughout the state to make personal contact with a homeowner before a home could be sold at foreclosure. The bill passed the Senate easily, but is stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Although the bill has the support of the California Assn. of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors, committee members were concerned the provisions of the bill would delay tax collection when counties are facing unprecedented cuts. Speier hopes to revive the issue next year.

When Dotson lost the condominium, he lost everything that was in the home: his clothes, his furniture, photos. He managed to keep a few things, such as property tax receipts and his golf clubs.

Taylor has been preparing the home with meticulous care so that Dotson will be comfortable. With the donations, he purchased furniture, a washer and dryer, new carpeting, blinds and floral arrangements, and also had the place painted. Additionally, he has arranged for health-care workers to visit Dotson regularly.

Dotson hopes his longtime friend Edna, who is 101, can also visit him.

“First thing I want to do is relax,” Dotson said. “The next thing is to get up and participate in some of the things that I have missed. I like golf.... I’m a Christian. I’m intending to go to church.”

The ordeal has shown Dotson, an independent and feisty man, that he now needs assistance. That assistance is coming from Taylor, whom he has grown to trust like a son.

“He’s going to be my helper, to help me run my life,” Dotson said.

What had been a work assignment has turned into something much more for Taylor, whose own father passed away five years ago.

“God is giving me another chance to relate and bond with a senior person who is my dad’s age,” said Taylor, who is now Dotson’s conservator. “God works things out in all kinds of ways. We’ve been having a great time.”