It will be several weeks before a Lafayette judge decides whether a Scott homeowner is owed relief after her home was purchased at a tax sale that never should have happened.
Evidence and testimony were presented in court Tuesday and Wednesday for the unusual case, which all started with a 2014 grass-cutting lien for about $400 on a vacant lot in Carencro that Theresa "Kim" Guillot once owned with her ex-husband. The lien that should have been filed against the Carencro property was instead filed by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office against the property where Guillot lives in Scott. Because of that error, a Duson-based real estate company was able to purchase Guillot's Scott property at a tax sale in 2015.
Three years later, Guillot found an eviction notice on the door of the Scott home she owns free and clear. Guillot, then a single mother working two jobs, would eventually learn that P&G Real Estate Acquisition Companies had purchased her Scott property through a Sheriff's Office tax sale and had paid her property taxes for three years.
Guillot, however, never owed property taxes at her Scott property because her modest house qualified for homestead exemption. The property lost its homestead exemption status when P&G purchased it at tax sale and, from that point forward, property tax bills were mailed to P&G and not Guillot.
Through tears, Guillot testified this week about the moment she and her daughter found the eviction notice on their home. Guillot said she immediately called Kenneth Grover of P&G, whose number was on the notice.
"He said, 'You should have paid your taxes,' and 'I own your home,'" Guillot said on the witness stand.
Guillot would later learn that P&G owned a 90% interest in her property, with the remaining 10% being owned by Guillot. When questioned by Tax Assessor attorney Brian Eddington about why Grover would try to evict the co-owner of the property, Grover said he was not sure of the home's occupant, even though his eviction notice was addressed to Guillot by name.
It's common for investment businesses like P&G to find opportunities like the one that led to the situation. These companies pay owed taxes on properties for years, eventually acquiring ownership of the property if the owner does not pay back the owed money within a certain timeframe.
What's not so common, however, is for a company to pay back taxes on the wrong property.
Grover, who has been purchasing properties through tax sales for 20 years, eventually told Guillot that she could pay back about $2,300 that was owed on the Carencro property to keep her Scott home. The exact amount of the payment was calculated with help from Faron Hollis, who at the time was the tax collection manager for the Sheriff's Office.
Guillot paid the agreed-upon amount to the Sheriff's Office on Dec. 26, 2018, a few days after the Dec. 19, 2018, deadline Grover noted in a written agreement that Guillot signed. Guillot testified that she believed the deadline to pay was Dec. 31, the same day property taxes are due to the Sheriff's Office. Guillot borrowed money and paid the Sheriff's Office in cash the day after Christmas. The holiday that year, she said, included no presents, just church service, due to the hardship the whole ordeal had caused.
Guillot said she felt relief after leaving the Sheriff's Office that December day. She believed everything was settled, she would be able to stay in her home and she wouldn't need to hire an attorney.
In January 2019, the Sheriff's Office cut Grover a check for the cost of the property redemption, which he accepted and deposited. But by December of that year, Grover filed a lawsuit against Guillot in an effort to obtain her Scott property, even though he'd been reimbursed for the money he paid to obtain an interest in the property. Fifteenth Judicial District Court Judge Thomas Duplantier signed a judgment in March 2020 that canceled the redemption certificate and reauthorized the sheriff's sale of her home. Duplantier would later put a halt to that judgment when Guillot and representatives from the Sheriff's Office and Tax Assessor's Office reached out to him.
Lafayette Parish Tax Assessor Conrad Comeaux also petitioned the Louisiana Tax Commission to cancel the tax sale of Guillot's property. The commission canceled it in June 2022.
Comeaux testified that Guillot did nothing wrong, and Grover should not have been allowed to go to court to get the property put in his name after he redeemed payment for the owed money.
"That almost seems like fraud to me," Comeaux said. "That never should have taken place."
When questioned by Sheriff's Office attorney Paige Beyt about why he pursued the lawsuit inside of just accepting the payment and moving on, Grover said "It's just part of my personality."
Grover testified that he knew by January 2019 that Guillot had paid him back, but he didn't yet know the "manipulation and trickery" and "malfeasance" that had occurred. When asked by Guillot's attorney Kenny Hebert if Grover had reported such allegations to authorities, Grover said he had not.
Grover said it was around April 2019 that he realized Guillot had made the payment a few days after the deadline outlined in their agreement. Grover then emailed Hollis, asking him to cancel the certificate of redemption for the Scott property. Hollis, whom Grover said he had a good working relationship with for years, "ghosted" Grover and didn't return emails or calls about canceling the redemption certificate.
Hollis testified that he did indeed begin ignoring Grover's calls and emails because Grover was difficult to work with. Ashley Ventroy, who took over the position after Hollis retired in 2020, said she responded to Grover's calls and emails for years in her current position and in her former role for the office. Ventroy testified she eventually stopped all communication with Grover in 2022 after he repeatedly disparaged her and contacted her supervisors to say she didn't know how to do her job.
Guillot filed a new lawsuit in February 2021 against P&G in an effort to annul Duplantier's 2020 judgment that reauthorized the sheriff's sale of her home.
The 2021 lawsuit was heard before 15th JDC Judge David Smith this week. Hebert and Lance Beal, who is also representing Guillot, have asked the court to annul the 2020 judgment, to provide equitable relief for their client and to hold P&G accountable for court costs and attorneys' fees. Richard Hiller, who represents Grover and P&G, has also asked for judgments against Hollis, Comeaux and Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber.
Smith is expected to render his decision after the attorneys have time to review the trial transcript and submit post-trial briefs.