Justia Ohio Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 2010, New Thistledown, LLC, which owned Thistledown Racetrack, petitioned for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief. Thistledown was purchased at an auction for $43,000,000. The bankruptcy court authorized the sale, stating that the sale price constituted reasonably equivalent value and fair consideration of the purchased assets. For tax year 2010, the Cuyahoga County fiscal officer assigned a value of $14,264,000 to the parcels comprising Thistledown. The Board of Education of Warrensville Heights City School District filed a complaint with the board of revision (BOR) seeking an increase in valuation. The BOR retained the fiscal officer’s initial valuation. The Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) rejected the 2010 sale price as evidence of value and valued the real property at $13,800,000. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the BTA reasonably and lawfully determined that the 2010 sale did not establish the true value of Thistledown; and (2) the evidence supported the BTA’s finding that Thistledown was worth $13,800,000 as of the tax-lien date. View "Warrensville Heights City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Cuyahoga County Bd. of Revision" on Justia Law

In 2010, the Talawanda City School District Board of Education (BOE) filed its application to exempt property located within the district. The tax commissioner granted an exemption for all of the property except for a parcel being farmed pursuant to lease, concluding that the pecuniary benefit realized by the farmer disqualified the land from exemption because that portion was not used for school purposes. The Board of Tax Appeals affirmed. the Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) following its amendment in 2010, Ohio Rev. Code 3313.44 does not contain a restriction requiring that the property owned by the BOE be used exclusively for school purposes; and (2) the entire property described in the BOE’s application shall be exempt for the year at issue. View "Talawanda City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Testa" on Justia Law

At issue in this appeal was a 2010 assessment of personal property issued by the Pike County auditor against Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. (LMES) for tax year 1993. The tax commissioner canceled the assessment. LMES prevailed before the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) on appeal. LMES prosecuted its appeal to the Supreme Court based on the BTA’s failure to address its contentions that the auditor issued the assessment frivolously and in bad faith. The county auditor cross-appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the BTA lacked the authority to make a finding of frivolous conduct or bad faith on the auditor’s part; (2) LMES had standing as an aggrieved party to prosecute its appeal to the Supreme Court; and (3) the tax commissioner properly canceled the assessment, as affirmed by the BTA, because LMES was never shown to qualify as a “taxpayer” as that term is statutorily defined for purposes of the personal property tax. View "Snodgrass v. Testa" on Justia Law

Appellee challenged the auditor’s valuation of a parcel of residential real estate for tax year 2012. The Columbus City Schools Board of Education (school board) sought retention of the auditor’s valuation. The Franklin County Board of Revision dismissed the complaint. Appellee appealed to the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) from the dismissal order. On the notice of appeal, Appellee marked “yes” in response to a question asking whether the case should be referred to the small-claims docket. Accordingly, the case was placed on the small-claims docket. The school board filed a motion to return the case to the regular docket. The BTA denied the motion. The Supreme Court exercised its jurisdiction to review the interim order and affirmed the BTA’s denial of the school board’s motion, holding that the BTA did not err in denying the school board’s motion to have the case returned to the BTA’s regular docket. Remanded. View "Megaland GP, LLC v. Franklin County Bd. of Revision" on Justia Law

Platinum Lodging, LLC, the former owner of the property at issue in this appeal, was a party throughout proceedings challenging a real property valuation for the tax year 2008. The Franklin County Board of Revision (BOR) reduced the valuation. Platinum Lodging and the current property owners appealed to the common pleas court. The common pleas court remanded the matter to the BOR. On remand, the BOR dismissed the complaint on the grounds that the complainant lacked standing. The Columbus City Schools Board of Education and Platinum Lodging appealed. The Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) dismissed the appeals on the grounds that, because the first appeal had been filed in the common pleas court, the BTA lacked jurisdiction to entertain an appeal from the BOR’s dismissal order on remand. The Supreme Court reversed the BTA’s order or dismissal as to Platinum Lodging, holding that Platinum Lodging acted properly in filing its notice of appeal at the BTA instead of in the common pleas court. Remanded to the BOR with instructions that it determine the value of the property in accordance with the earlier remand order issued by the common pleas court. View "Columbus City Schs. Bd. of Educ. v. Franklin County Bd. of Revision" on Justia Law

In 2011, Appellant purchased a two-family dwelling from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for $5,000. The Cuyahoga County fiscal officer valued the property at $126,800 for tax year 2011. Appellant sought a reduction to $30,000. The County Board of Revision retained the fiscal officer’s valuation. The Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the BTA acted unreasonably when it found that the property’s 2011 sale price was not the best evidence of its tax year 2011 value. Remanded with instructions that the $5,000 sale price be used as the property’s value for tax year 2011. View "Schwartz v. Cuyahoga County Bd. of Revision" on Justia Law

Appellant in this appeal contested twenty-seven assessments of delinquent sales tax. Appellant’s liability derived from previous assessments against a pet store business of which Appellant was co-owner and an officer. The Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) affirmed the tax commissioner’s determination upholding the assessments against Appellant. Appellant argued on appeal that she may contest the validity of the service of the assessments against the corporation as a defense against her derivative liability. The Supreme Court agreed. Noting that the record in this case documented successful service as to seven of the twenty-seven assessments but did not show completed service of the others, the Supreme Court affirmed the BTA’s decision to uphold the seven assessments as to which completed service was shown. The Court then vacated the BTA’s decision with regard to the other twenty assessments, holding that a successful challenge to the service on the corporation will invalidate the derivative-liability assessment against the responsible individual. Remanded with instructions that the BTA take additional evidence and determine whether service of those twenty assessments was perfected on the corporation. View "Cruz v. Testa" on Justia Law

This case originated with the question of whether, for tax year 2006, the present value of William MacDonald’s future annuity payments qualified as taxable wages or as a pension under a Shaker Heights ordinance that exempts pensions from the municipal income tax. The tax administrator and the municipal tax board held that the amount at issue was subject to municipal income tax. The Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) reversed. The court of appeals affirmed. The city of Shaker Heights appealed, arguing that the BTA violated a duty of deference to the determination of the municipal tax board. Specifically, the city argued that when the legislature enacted Ohio Rev. Code 5717.011, authorizing appeal to the BTA in addition to the preexisting right of appeal to the common pleas courts under Ohio Rev. Code 2506, the legislature must have intended that the BTA review decisions of the municipal tax boards using the same standard of review that applies under chapter 2506. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals, holding (1) the BTA’s standard of review under section 5717.011 is de novo as to both facts and law; and (2) the BTA in this case properly exercised its own independent judgment in determining the facts and the law. View "MacDonald v. Shaker Heights Bd. of Income Tax Review" on Justia Law

In this appeal, Navistar, Inc. claimed it was due a credit against the new commercial-activity tax (CAT), which was enacted to replace to replace the existing corporate-franchise and personal property taxes for industrial corporations like Navistar. In 2007, Navistar, Inc. undertook a restatement of its 2004 financial restatement, which increased Navistar’s valuation allowance from 62.4 percent to 100 percent. As a consequence, the tax commissioner reduced the amount of Navistar’s potential CAT credit from over $27 million to zero. The Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) affirmed the tax commissioner’s decision. The Supreme Court vacated the BTA’s decision, holding that the tax commissioner’s use of Navistar’s restated valuation allowance as the basis for the final determination was justified only if the restate valuation allowance was a correction of error, which could be the case here only if Navistar’s original valuation allowance was not in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Remanded for a determination of whether the original valuation allowance was in compliance with GAAP based upon all the evidence in the record. View "Navistar, Inc. v. Testa" on Justia Law

The Metamore Elevator Company filed complaints with the Fulton County Board of Revision (BOR) seeking to reduce the property value of two parcels and to remove grain storage bins from the real property assessment, claiming that they were business fixtures and thus should be classified as personal property not subject to real estate tax. The BOR left the assessed valuation unchanged. The Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) reversed, concluding that the storage bins were temporary structures and should be classified as personal property. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the BTA correctly applied the statues when it found that the grain storage bins were personal property. View "Metamora Elevator Co. v. Fulton County Bd. of Revision" on Justia Law