Justia Connecticut Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court determining that Plaintiff, Walgreen Eastern Company, Inc., had established aggrievement under Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-117a by showing that the valuation of Plaintiff’s property by Defendant, the Town of West Hartford, was excessive. The Court further affirmed the trial court’s judgment determining the true and actual value of the subject property and concluding that the Town’s valuation of the subject property was not manifestly excessive under Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-119.After the Board of Assessment Appeals (Board) upheld the town assessor’s valuation, Plaintiff appealed to the superior court, which (1) found Plaintiff satisfied its burden of proving aggrievement; and (2) rendered judgment in favor of Plaintiff on its section 12-117a count and in favor of the Town on Plaintiff’s section 12-119 count. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the relief awarded by the trial court was sufficient because the court properly determined the true and actual value of Plaintiff’s property; and (2) the trial court properly determined that Plaintiff did not meet its burden to establish a claim under section 12-119. View "Walgreen Eastern Co. v. Town of West Hartford" on Justia Law

The Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's decision to uphold the Commissioner's determination denying plaintiffs' request for a refund of estate taxes paid by the estate of the decedent. The court held that the trial court properly rendered summary judgment in favor of the Commissioner because defendant properly included the value of the assets contained within the qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) marital deduction trusts in the decedent's gross estate and levied the estate tax thereupon in accordance with General Statutes 12-391 without violating due process. View "Estate of Brooks v. Commissioner of Revenue Services" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs requested from the Commissioner of Revenue Services a tax refund for the taxable years 2002, 2006, and 2007. The Commissioner denied the request. The trial court upheld the decision of the Commissioner. The Supreme Court (1) reversed the trial court’s award of summary judgment with respect to the taxable year 2002, holding that the form of the trial court’s judgment with respect to that claim was improper; but (2) affirmed the judgment of the trial court in all other respects, holding that the remainder of Plaintiffs’ contentions regarding the judgment were unavailing. View "Allen v. Commissioner of Revenue Services" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, the owner of a parcel of land in the Town of Colchester, challenged the Town’s assessment of the property for the tax year 2011. The Colchester Board of Assessment Appeals upheld the Town’s original valuation. Plaintiff appealed, arguing that the Town had used an improper method for valuing the property. The trial court upheld the Town’s original assessment, determining that Plaintiff had not established that it was aggrieved by the Town’s valuation because it found that Plaintiff’s expert was not credible. Plaintiff appealed, arguing that the trial court applied the incorrect legal standard of valuation to the subject property. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court’s determination that Plaintiff failed to establish aggrievement was not clearly erroneous, and the trial court properly rejected Plaintiff’s appeal. View "Nutmeg Housing Development Corp. v. Colchester" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, a partnership and an LLC, were related entities with common owners. The partnership acquired a commercial office complex and later transferred ownership of the property to the LLC. In 2008, the City of Norwalk’s tax assessor set the fair market value of the partnership at approximately $49 million. The trial court sustained Plaintiffs’ property tax appeal and reduced the valuation of the LLC’s property by approximately $15 million. The Appellate Court reversed, concluding that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ appeal because the LLC had not appeared in administrative proceedings before the City’s Board of Assessment Appeals and did not initiate the appeal to the trial court. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that although the tax appeal was initially brought by a nonaggrieved party, the partnership, the appeal was also maintained by the LLC, an aggrieved party that had properly been added to the trial court proceedings by way of a promptly filed amended complaint. View "Fairfield Merrittview Ltd. P’ship v. City of Norwalk" on Justia Law

In 2009, Wheelabrator Bridgeport, L.P., which operates a waste to energy facility in the city of Bridgeport, appealed from the tax assessment of the City, alleging that the city had overvalued the property on the city’s 2007 and 2008 grand lists. In 2011, Wheelabrator and other plaintiffs filed a second appeal from the city’s tax assessment, alleging that the city had overvalued the property on the 2010 grand list. The two appeals were consolidated for purposes of trial. The trial court dismissed the first appeal for lack of standing and then rendered partial judgment in favor of Wheelabrator in the second appeal. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the trial court improperly dismissed the first appeal; and (2) the trial court improperly valued the property in the second appeal and failed to consider evidence of the city’s wrongful conduct in the second appeal. Remanded for further proceedings in the first appeal and a new trial in the second appeal. View "Wheelabrator Bridgeport, L.P. v. Bridgeport" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, the Town of Stratford, assessed hangars owned by Defendants and located at Sikorsky Memorial Airport as real property. When Defendants contested the classification of the hangars as real property instead of personal property, Plaintiff brought this action seeking a declaratory judgment that the hangars were properly classified as real property and were not exempt from taxation. The trial court ruled that the hangars were taxable as real property pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-64(a) and were not exempted pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-74. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court properly applied sections 12-64 and 12-74 to determine that the hangars were subject to municipal taxation. View "Stratford v. Jacobelli" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, the Town of Groton, filed a tax appeal contesting the validity of a sales and use tax assessment issued by Defendant, the Commissioner of Revenue Services, in the amount of $240,653. The trial court dismissed the appeal. Plaintiff appealed, contending that the trial court improperly concluded that the fees collected for refuse removal services provided to industrial, commercial, or income producing real properties were subject to the sales tax. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court improperly determined that consideration existed to support Defendant’s assessment of Plaintiff for sales tax in connection with its revenue neutral program for the collection of refuse generated by commercial, industrial, or income producing real properties. View "Groton v. Comm’r of Revenue Servs." on Justia Law

After Defendant, the owner of real property in the Town of Canton, abandoned the subject property, the Town filed a petition seeking the appointment of a receiver of rents. The trial court, finding that Defendant owed the Town taxes, granted the petition and authorized the receiver to collect all rents or use and occupancy payments. The court subsequently modified its order to allow the receiver to evict the tenant and to bring an action against the tenant for all rents due. The tenant moved to remove the receiver, asserting that the receiver had exceeded its authority under Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-163a by serving it with a notice to quit and by bring an action to collect back taxes and prior rents. The court denied the motion for removal. The Appellate Court (1) reversed insofar as the trial court granted the receiver’s motion to modify the receivership orders, but (2) affirmed insofar as it denied the tenant’s motion to remove the receiver. The Supreme Court (1) reversed as to the reversal of the trial court’s judgment granting the receiver’s motion for modification, holding that section 12-163a does authorize a receiver to use legal process to collect rent due prior to the date of the receiver’s appointment; and (2) otherwise affirmed. View "Canton v. Cadle Props. of Conn., Inc." on Justia Law

This case concerned the valuation of property owned by Plaintiff on which Plaintiff built a continuing care retirement community. In 2007, the assessor determined that Plaintiff's property had a fair market value of $117,621,000 and an assessment value of $82,334,600. Plaintiff challenged the valuation. The board of assessment appeals upheld the assessor's valuation. Plaintiff appealed, alleging it was aggrieved by the actions of the board because the assessor's valuation of the property exceeded seventy percent of its true and actual value on the assessment date. The trial court denied the appeal. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court's determination that Plaintiff failed to establish aggrievement under Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-117a was not clearly erroneous; and (2) the trial court properly determined that Plaintiff failed to meet its burden of proving the town's assessment of the property was manifestly excessive under Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-119. View "Redding Life Care, LLC v. Town of Redding" on Justia Law