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Liddell v. Board of Commissioners of the County of Cleveland ex rel Board of Equalization of the County of Cleveland1/28/2002
On July 15, 1994, Plaintiff/Appellant filed the instant action against Defendants/Appellees for declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and refund of excessive ad valorem taxes. Plaintiff is a long-time developer of commercial and residential property in Cleveland County. In early 1991, Plaintiff had some ownership interest in, among other properties, ten parcels of land which were the subjects of ad valorem tax protests in proceedings before the Cleveland County Assessor and/or the Cleveland County Equalization Board. Both before and during 1991, Plaintiff lodged several protests or complaints to the assessor (a predecessor of Defendant Heavner) that his properties were overvalued when compared to comparable properties of other taxpayers. The assessor promised that she would investigate Plaintiff's claims and either explain them or correct the over-valuations, but failed to do so. Of the numerous complaints made by Plaintiff to the assessor, Plaintiff filed protests or appeals to the Equalization Board in nine or ten instances.
In his proceedings before the assessor and/or the Equalization Board, Plaintiff was granted relief in some cases - including a reduction of approximately $1,000,000.00 in the valuation of one commercial property and a reduction of about $500,000.00 in the valuation of another property - and he was denied relief in others. From adverse decisions of the Board, Plaintiff filed appeals of three decisions to the District Court of Cleveland County in June of 1991. All three of those appeals were dismissed - at Plaintiff's request - on or about the date they were set for trial; two on February 20, 1992, and the third on July 6, 1992. Plaintiff never refiled those claims. By the end of 1994, Plaintiff had disposed of all the properties which were the subject of these complaints, protests and/or appeals.
In the instant proceeding, Plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment that would define the proper methods of valuation to be used by the assessor and an injunction prohibiting the assessor from applying a different method when valuing Plaintiff's current properties. Plaintiff also sought a refund of the overpayment of ad valorem taxes paid on his previously owned properties. The trial court granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment and Plaintiff appealed. The matter stands submitted without appellate briefs on the trial court record. See Rule 13(h), Rules for District Courts, 12 O.S. Supp.1993, Ch. 2, App. 1, and Rule 1.36, Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules, 12 O.S. Supp.1997, Ch. 15, App.
We begin our analysis by concurring with the trial court's finding that Plaintiff likely would have prevailed on the merits of his case were it not for his failure to exhaust his administrative remedies and to avail himself of the clear, plain, speedy, and exclusive remedy provided by 68 O.S. ยง 2871 et seq. The record tends to support that the assessments about which Plaintiff complains were discriminatory: Plaintiff's properties appear to have been overvalued when compared to similar properties and the Assessor's Office apparently failed to use any of its stated accepted valuation methods in valuing Plaintiff's properties. In fact, the current assessor cannot determine what valuation method the previous assessor used, if any, to value Plaintiff's properties. The Assessor's Office also failed to employ its established procedures for evaluating complaints of overvaluation and evidently undertook no meaningful analysis of any of Plaintiff's complaints. We agree with the Defendants' observation, quoted in the trial court's order, that when Plaintiff "finally stepped up to the plate, he led off with a triple." Unfortunately for Plaintiff, the game was already over when h
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