Analogic Corp. v. Board of Assessors

700 N.E.2d 548, 45 Mass. App. Ct. 605, 1998 Mass. App. LEXIS 1110
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedOctober 9, 1998
DocketNo. 96-P-1364
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 700 N.E.2d 548 (Analogic Corp. v. Board of Assessors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Analogic Corp. v. Board of Assessors, 700 N.E.2d 548, 45 Mass. App. Ct. 605, 1998 Mass. App. LEXIS 1110 (Mass. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

Spina, J.

The parties have filed cross appeals from a decision of the Appellate Tax Board (board) granting real estate tax abatements totaling $1,483,339.27 for fiscal years 1989 through 1994 from taxes levied against a hotel and a manufacturing facility in Peabody owned by Analogic Corporation (Analogic). On appeal, the assessors challenge (1) the sufficiency of the evidence presented by Analogic in support of abatements for its hotel, and (2) the board’s failure to consider their evidence of comparable sales in arriving at its valuation of the hotel. In regard to the valuation of the hotel, Analogic challenges the board’s (1) disallowance of certain deductions from income, and (2) permitted allowance for replacement reserves. It also disputes three of the board’s findings in regard to the manufacturing facility: (1) a vacancy rate that was too low; (2) the failure to apply the amortized costs of expenditures for tenant improvements and leasing commissions; and (3) the reduced capitalization rate for fiscal years 1993 and 1994.

Analogic manufactures electronic measurement and detection equipment for the health care industry, such as fetal and physiological monitors, and CAT scan devices. It also manufactures telephone switching and other electronic equipment. In the early 1980’s it acquired 67.493 acres through the Peabody Community Development Authority and constructed a two-story, 407,209 square foot manufacturing facility at the site under an Urban' Development Action Grant (UDAG). It is the sole occupant of that facility.

Pursuant to its obligation under the UDAG to increase local employment, Analogic built a six-story, 257-room full service hotel on 7.493 acres of the original tract. The hotel, owned by Analogic and managed by the Marriott Corporation, was thirty percent finished as of January 1, 1989 (the assessing date for fiscal year 1990) and fully complete by August, 1989, when it opened.

Analogic seasonably applied for real estate tax abatements for fiscal years 1989 through 1994 as to the manufacturing facility, and 1990 through 1994 as to the hotel, all of which the assessors denied. Timely appeals were made to the board, pursuant to G. L. c. 59, §§ 64, 65. The board consolidated the appeals and, after an eleven-day hearing, granted abatements for both facilities for each year sought.

[607]*6071. The assessors’ appeal, a. Sufficiency of the evidence. The assessors contend that Analogic failed to produce sufficient substantial evidence to rebut a presumption of validity of the assessments for the hotel. See Schlaiker v. Assessors of Great Barrington, 365 Mass. 243, 245 (1974). In particular, they argue that the testimony of Analogic’s appraiser was based upon data furnished by an employee of Marriott, an interested “party,”1 and therefore was susceptible to a claim, unspecified and undeveloped, of bias.

The “presumption” of which the assessors speak, however, is not a “true presumption,” but merely a “restatement] that the taxpayer bears the burden of persuasion of every material fact necessary to prove that its property has been overvalued.” General Elec. Co. v. Assessors of Lynn, 393 Mass. 591, 599 (1984). The “substantial evidence,” upon which the board’s decision must rest, New Bedford Gas & Edison Light Co. v. Assessors of Dartmouth, 368 Mass. 745, 749 (1975),2 is “such evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” New Boston Garden Corp. v. Assessors of Boston, 383 Mass. 456, 466 (1981) (citations omitted). “The substantiality of evidence must take into account whatever in the record fairly detracts from its weight.” Ibid, (citations omitted).

The assessors do not argue that the data upon which Analogic’s appraiser relied was inadmissible. See Department of Youth Servs. v. A Juvenile, 398 Mass. 516, 531-532 (1986); Anthony’s Pier Four, Inc. v. HBC Assocs., 411 Mass. 451, 480 (1991).3 There is no requirement that an appraiser be the source of the data upon which his opinion rests. Compare General Elec. Co. v. Assessors of Lynn, 393 Mass, at 601. Data furnished by interested parties is not inadmissible per se, and is commonly used as the basis for opinion testimony by appraisers. See [608]*608Revere v. Revere Constr. Co., 285 Mass. 243, 248-249 (1934) (valuation of realty may be determined in part by evidence of business profits); Sinoyan v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authy., 348 Mass. 780 (1964) (gross receipts of bowling alley relevant to issue of valuation). Interested parties are often the only practical source of necessary data. Compare and contrast Barshak v. Buccheri, 406 Mass. 187, 191 (1989) (plaintiff’s expert relied on the testimony of the defendant as to the condition of the property). The reliance on Marriott’s data did not render the testimony of Analogic’s appraiser inadmissible or subject to disqualification. Compare Assessors of Pittsfield v. W. T. Grant Co., 329 Mass. 359, 361 (1952). It merely went to the issue of his credibility and the weight to be given his testimony. See New Eng. Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Assessors of Boston, 392 Mass. 865, 870 (1984); General Elec. Co. v. Assessors of Lynn, 393 Mass, at 600-602.

We have reviewed the entire record and considered that which the assessors argue detracts from the weight of the evidence. Beyond their general claim of bias, the assessors direct us to no particular deficit either in the testimony of Analogic’s appraiser or in the data from Marriott upon which he relied. At trial, they did not impeach his testimony on the issue of bias they now raise. Their own appraiser relied upon much the same data as the basis for his opinions. Analogic’s appraiser was knowledgeable and, the assessors concede, qualified. He was familiar with the subject property, the comparables he considered, and the economic conditions of the area. His opinions were not excludable guesswork. See General Elec. Co. v. Assessors of Lynn, supra at 602. We cannot say that the board abused its discretion by relying on Analogic’s appraiser, as it did, in its decision. Ibid. To the extent it credited his testimony, the board based its decision on substantial evidence.

b. Failure to consider comparable hotel sales. The assessors contend that the board erred by failing to consider evidence of comparable sales in valuing the hotel.4 At trial, the assessors never argued that the comparable sales method should have been used to value the hotel for fiscal years 1992, 1993, and 1994. They are, therefore, precluded from raising the issue on [609]*609appeal as to those years. G. L. c. 58A, § 13. See New Boston Garden Corp. v. Assessors of Boston, 383 Mass, at 459. They have preserved the issue as to fiscal years 1990 and 1991.

The board may rely upon any method of valuation that is reasonable and supported by the record, Blakeley v. Assessors of Boston, 391 Mass. 473, 477 (1984), and it is “not required to believe the testimony of any particular witness.” Assessors of Quincy v. Boston Consol. Gas Co., 309 Mass 60, 72 (1941). It found that the capitalization of income method was the most appropriate for determining the fair market value of the hotel for all five years.

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700 N.E.2d 548, 45 Mass. App. Ct. 605, 1998 Mass. App. LEXIS 1110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/analogic-corp-v-board-of-assessors-massappct-1998.