Danielle Reado has filed a lawsuit against the City of New Orleans and Serpil Properties LLC, challenging the legality of the sale of her home. The complaint was filed on October 10, 2024, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Reado accuses the City of New Orleans of improperly selling her property to Serpil Properties LLC without due process and in violation of constitutional rights.
According to the complaint, Danielle Reado claims that her home was sold by the City without proper notice, violating her due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. She asserts that neither she nor her mother received any notification about a tax sale or subsequent adjudication sale, which resulted in her losing ownership of her property located at 4715 Laine Avenue in New Orleans. The plaintiff argues that these actions contravene several Louisiana statutes and seeks to have both sales annulled. Furthermore, Reado alleges that the sale constituted an excessive fine prohibited by the Eighth Amendment since it resulted in a significant loss of equity from her property.
The legal dispute centers around a tax delinquency issue dating back to September 25, 2012, when the City purportedly placed Reado's property into a tax sale for an unpaid amount of $2,075.38. The property was later sold to Serpil Properties LLC for $60,753.75 through an online auction on Civicsource.com. However, Reado contends that at no point did she receive adequate notice regarding these proceedings. She maintains that if any notices were sent, they failed to meet legal requirements and did not provide sufficient information about the sales.
Reado is seeking several forms of relief from the court: nullification of both sales due to violations under constitutional amendments; just compensation for any taking under the Fifth Amendment; declaratory judgments declaring certain Louisiana statutes unconstitutional; and recovery of attorney fees and litigation expenses as permitted by law. The case is being handled by Paul W. Pritchett from Pritchett Legal Services LLC on behalf of Danielle Reado.
This case is presided over by unnamed judges with Case ID 2:24-cv-02451. Attorney Paul W. Pritchett represents Danielle Reado in this matter.