GM Berkshire Hills LLC v. Berks Co. Bd. of Assessment
A school district designed a formula for properties within its catchment to determine if the district should appeal a particular property's assessed value. Using that calculation, the district determined that two properties were assessed at a fraction of their actual value and appealed those values. The Court of Common Pleas…
A school district designed a formula for properties within its catchment to determine if the district should appeal a particular property’s assessed value. Using that calculation, the district determined that two properties were assessed at a fraction of their actual value and appealed those values. The Court of Common Pleas agreed and increased the assessment.… Continue reading GM Berkshire Hills LLC v. Berks Co. Bd. of Assessment
The plaintiffs brought this action under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act (CRA), N.J.S.A. 10:6-1 to -2, and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, alleging that the Tax Collector and the Borough violated their constitutional, statutory, and common law rights to reclaim their property. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants, finding that… Continue reading Winberry Realty P’ship v. Borough of Rutherford
Choe v. From the Decision of the Philadelphia Bd. of Revision of Taxes
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court
In Choe v. From the Decision of the Philadelphia Bd. of Revision of Taxes, Appellants, who are current or former owners of condo units, appealed from an order of the Court of Common Pleas that denied Appellants’ appeal from a decision of the Philadelphia’s Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT). BRT denied Appellants’ real estate… Continue reading Choe v. From the Decision of the Philadelphia Bd. of Revision of Taxes
In Burba v. Indiana Co. Tax Claim Bureau, the Burbas appealed from the trial court’s order, which denied their petition to overturn a tax sale of their property. On appeal, the Burbas, who did not pay their 2017 and 2018 real estate taxes, argued that the sale was invalid because they were not provided with… Continue reading Burba v. Indiana Co. Tax Claim Bureau
An en banc panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in Mandler v. Pennsylvania overruled the taxpayers’ exceptions to a prior panel’s opinion. The taxpayers claimed that they were entitled to the return of certain payroll taxes paid to the Department of Revenue in the course of the taxpayers’ consolidated bankruptcy proceedings. Though the Court generally quoted… Continue reading Mandler v. Pennsylvania
The dispute in City of Newark v. Twp. of Jefferson centered on the Township’s tax assessment of the City’s property, situated within the Township, for years 2009 through 2016. The City appealed the lower court’s judgment, which affirmed the tax assessments. The Appellate Division reversed and remanded, holding that the Township’s assessment was defective and… Continue reading City of Newark v. Twp. of Jefferson
In In re Appeal of Coatesville Area Sch. Dist., the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did an admirable job of differentiating and explaining the two preclusion doctrines — res judicata and collateral estoppel — while simultaneously wading through a procedural minefield laid by unclear rulings in parallel taxation appeals. In this case, a landowner sought to appeal… Continue reading In re Appeal of Coatesville Area Sch. Dist.
In Garden State Inv. v. Twp. of Brick, the Appellate Division agreed with the Chancery Division that purchasers of tax sale certificates could not rescind the purchase and receive back taxes paid because they later learned that the properties subject to those taxes had a restrictive easement on them. The plaintiffs relied on Twp. of… Continue reading Garden State Inv. v. Twp. of Brick
The New Jersey Supreme Court wisely declined the opportunity to jump into the wormhole of self-procured insurance issued by unauthorized, out-of-state insurers. Instead, in Johnson & Johnson v. Dir., Div. of Tax’n, the Court issued a per curium opinion affirming the Appellate Division’s ruling. The Appellate Division held that 2011 amendments to N.J.S.A. 17:22-6.64 did… Continue reading Johnson & Johnson v. Dir., Div. of Tax’n
In Lohr v. Saratoga Partners, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court waded into an issue involving delinquent taxpayers. The Court affirmed the constitutionality of the interplay between the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act (“MCTLA”) and the Real Estate Tax Sale Law (“RETSL”). The MCTLA permits delinquent taxpayers in the first and second class counties of Philadelphia and… Continue reading Lohr v. Saratoga Partners