Ginter v. Auglaize County Board of Revision

143 Ohio St. 3d 340, 2015 WL 3993109
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 2, 2015
DocketNo. 2013-1710
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 143 Ohio St. 3d 340 (Ginter v. Auglaize County Board of Revision) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ginter v. Auglaize County Board of Revision, 143 Ohio St. 3d 340, 2015 WL 3993109 (Ohio 2015).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} This case concerns the discretionary authority of boards of revision to dismiss a valuation complaint for failure to prosecute based on the complainant’s failure to attend the scheduled hearing of the board. We conclude that boards of revision do not. have that authority, and we hold that a board of revision must make a determination of value whenever a complaint properly invokes its jurisdiction. Accordingly, we vacate the Board of Tax Appeals’ (“BTA’s”) decision and remand the cause to the Auglaize County Board of Revision for further proceedings.

Factual and Procedural Background

{¶ 2} Appellees Charles and Christina Ginter filed a complaint with the Auglaize County Board of Revision (“BOR”) challenging the auditor’s valuation of their property for 2012 at $113,511. The Ginters proposed a value of $99,900. The complaint alleged that “[cjomparable home sales and comparable market data of existing and recently sold homes reflect [the] requested change in value.” In correspondence to the BOR dated April 15, 2013, the Ginters’ attorney indicated that an arm’s-length sale provided the basis for a reduced valuation. He submitted various documents supporting this argument, including a printout from the county auditor’s website showing a transfer of the property on October 8, 2010, with a sale price of $99,900; a printout of the property-record card for the parcel, which notes the 2010 $99,900 sale price; a United States Department of Housing and Urban Development settlement statement relating to the sale that lists $99,900 as the “contract sale price”; a printout from the website Zillow referring to the 2010 sale; and a copy of a BTA decision that granted a decrease in value to an owner based on evidence of an arm’s-length sale.

{¶ 3} The BOR notified the Ginters that a hearing would be held on May 30, 2013. Neither the Ginters nor anyone on their behalf appeared at the hearing. The absence of the complainants led to the dismissal of the complaint, which was embodied in an order and letter dated June 3, 2013.

{¶ 4} The Ginters appealed. At the BTA, the BOR and the auditor moved for an order affirming the dismissal of the complaint.

{¶ 5} The BTA stated in its decision that “a board of revision has the discretion to dismiss a complaint when a complainant fails to appear at a duly scheduled [342]*342hearing,” but that such discretionary authority “is not without limits.” BTA No. 2013-Y-1782, 2013 WL 6833846, *1. The BTA held that the BOR had exceeded those limits because the evidence presented raised the presumption that the sale furnished the criterion of value. The BTA concluded that the BOR had improperly dismissed the complaint. The BTA therefore reversed and directed the BOR “to value the subject property in accordance with the sale amount.” Id. at *2. Appellants, the BOR and the county auditor, appealed to this court.

Legal Analysis

Boards of revision have the statutory duty to determine property value but lack authority to dismiss for failure to prosecute

{¶ 6} We have long recognized that boards of revision are creatures of statute imbued only with the powers granted by their enabling laws. Steward v. Evatt, 143 Ohio St. 547, 56 N.E.2d 159 (1944), paragraph one of the syllabus; Kohl’s Illinois, Inc. v. Marion Cty. Bd. of Revision, 140 Ohio St.3d 522, 2014-Ohio-4353, 20 N.E.3d 711, ¶ 23. The statutes do not specifically confer a power to dismiss for failure to prosecute. Logic dictates, therefore, that boards of revision lack authority to dismiss for failure to prosecute.

{¶ 7} Twenty years ago, we departed from these basic legal precepts. In LCL Income Properties v. Rhodes, 71 Ohio St.3d 652, 646 N.E.2d 1108 (1995), the property owner filed a complaint and failed to appear at the hearing, and the board of revision dismissed the complaint for failure to prosecute. The BTA held that “the [board of revision] cannot avoid its statutory duty to render a decision on the value of the subject property by dismissing the action,” and “[i]f the available evidence supports the auditor’s valuation, then the proper course would be to find value at the level determined by the auditor.” BTA No. 92-J-1225, 1994 WL 93138, *1-2 (Mar. 18, 1994). On appeal, we reversed, stating that “[t]he BTA’s decision requiring the board of revision to revalue every property complained of, even if the complainant does not appear at a hearing to contest the valuation, and even if the complainant presents no evidence, is unreasonable.” 71 Ohio St.3d at 653. Such a requirement “ignores the primary obligation of a property owner who challenges a real property valuation: to sustain the burden of proving that the property has been overvalued.” Id.

{¶ 8} Today we acknowledge that LCL Properties was wrongly decided and that the BTA was right. In doing so, we are setting aside the extrastatutory dismissal power and enforcing the statutory duty of boards of revision to hear and decide complaints by determining value.

{¶ 9} In LCL Properties, we relied on Swetland Co. v. Evatt, 139 Ohio St. 6, 37 N.E.2d 601 (1941). That reliance was misplaced because Swetland was inappo-site to LCL Properties. In Swetland, the property owners had contested the [343]*343valuations by the county but made payment based on the assessed value without properly protesting the payment of the portion sought to be recovered. Id. at 21-22. Under the law, the property owners thereby forfeited their right to relief from the overvaluation of their properties. Id. at 22 (“We conclude that the Board of Tax Appeals was right in holding that the payment of the 1937 taxes in full was voluntary and that the question before the county board of revision was moot”). See also id. at paragraphs three and four of the syllabus. The board of revision, after giving the property owners multiple opportunities to submit evidence, issued a dispositive order retaining the auditor’s valuation on the grounds that the property owners had not presented evidence of different values. See id. at 15, 22-23.

{¶ 10} On appeal, this court approved the action of the board of revision and the action of the BTA. As to the board of revision’s disposition, we stated:

Even after one dismissal of the complaints by the county board of revision, [the property owners] failed to appear or offer evidence before such board. Under such circumstances, the county board of revision was justified in determining and fixing the taxable valuation of the property both as to the land and improvements at the same figure indicated in the assessment made by the county auditor.

Id. at 22-23. We affirmed the BTA, which had dismissed the appeals on the grounds of mootness.

{¶ 11} It is apparent that Swetland does not provide support for our holding in LCL Properties for the simple reason that Swetland did not involve a dismissal by the board of revision for failure to prosecute. Instead, Swetland involved the board of revision’s decision to retain the auditor’s valuation because of the lack of evidence presented by the property owners.

{¶ 12} We stated in LCL Properties

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 Ohio St. 3d 340, 2015 WL 3993109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ginter-v-auglaize-county-board-of-revision-ohio-2015.