Interstate Apartment Enterprises, L.C. v. Wichita Appraisal District

164 S.W.3d 448, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3060, 2005 WL 914548
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 21, 2005
Docket2-04-243-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 164 S.W.3d 448 (Interstate Apartment Enterprises, L.C. v. Wichita Appraisal District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Interstate Apartment Enterprises, L.C. v. Wichita Appraisal District, 164 S.W.3d 448, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3060, 2005 WL 914548 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

PLURALITY OPINION

TERRIE LIVINGSTON, Justice.

I. Introduction

Appellant Interstate Apartment Enterprises, L.C. appeals from the trial court’s order granting appellee Wichita Appraisal District’s (WAD) motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. 1 We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

II. Background Facts

Appellant is a limited liability company that owns an apartment complex in Wichita Falls. WAD is the appraisal district for Wichita County. In January 2003, appellant’s mortgage escrow agent notified appellant that there was a $13,200.67 shortage in appellant’s escrow account, which was to be used to pay ad valorem taxes on the apartment complex for the 2002 tax year. The taxes were due on January 31, 2003. Concluding that the shortage was the result of an unanticipated increase in the WAD’s valuation of the property, 2 appellant’s employee Tammy Bommer called WAD and advised one of WAD’s representatives that appellant had not received notice of the increased valuation and that she thought the valuation was wrong. In response, WAD sent appellant a letter explaining how to file a motion to correct the appraisal roll under section 25.25 of the Texas Property Tax Code. WAD advised appellant that the tax code requires a property owner to pay taxes on the property subject to the appeal before the delinquency date or forfeit the right to appeal and attached a copy of section 25.25(d), which provides that an “error may not be corrected unless it resulted in an appraised value that exceeds by more than one-third the correct appraised value.” See Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 25.25(d) (Vernon 2001). In addition, WAD sent appellant a form on which to file the section 25.25 motion.

Appellant paid the taxes and filed a section 25.25 motion before the January 31, 2003 delinquency date. Despite the fact that section 25.25 allows a correction only if the error resulted in an appraised value that exceeds the correct value by more than one-third, appellant stated in its motion that, in its opinion, the value of the property for the 2002 tax year was $6.7 million, an amount that did not satisfy the one-third requirement. On April 21, 2003, WAD sent appellant a letter stating that while the valuation may have been incorrect, appellant was not entitled to a correction because “the value [was] not one-third over appraised.” Appellant’s appeal to the Appraisal Review Board was also denied.

*451 Appellant filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that (1) the valuation for the 2002 tax year was void because WAD failed to give appellant notice of the valuation increase and provided appellant with misleading information regarding which remedy to pursue, (2) taxes for 2002 should have been assessed and levied based on the 2001 valuation, and (3) appellant is entitled to a refund of the taxes paid for the 2002 tax year to the extent that the 2002 payment exceeded the amount that would have been owed using the 2001 valuation. WAD filed a motion to dismiss arguing that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit because appellant failed to exhaust its administrative remedies regarding the lack of notice issue. Specifically, WAD argued that appellant should have filed a protest of WAD’s failure to give notice under section 41.411 of the tax code.

Appellant filed a motion for partial summary judgment arguing that because WAD provided appellant with inaccurate and false information, it was barred from asserting its jurisdictional defense. Appel-lees filed responses to appellant’s motion. Based on an agreement between the parties, the trial court admitted all of the evidence attached to appellant’s motion for partial summary judgment and WAD’s response. On May 3, 2004, the trial court entered an order granting WAD’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

III. Standard of Review

Because the existence of subject matter jurisdiction is a matter of law, we review de novo the trial court’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction. See Mayhew v. Town of Sunnyvale, 964 S.W.2d 922, 928 (Tex.1998), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1144, 119 S.Ct. 2018, 143 L.Ed.2d 1030 (1999). In doing so, we must examine appellant’s pleadings to determine whether appellant has “affirmatively shown that the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction.” Cont’l Cas. Ins. Co. v. Functional Restoration Assocs., 19 S.W.3d 393, 404 (Tex.2000).

IV. Issues on Appeal

In appellant’s first issue, it argues that an appraisal district has a duty either to provide accurate information or to not provide inaccurate or incomplete information regarding the method of contesting an increase in property valuation. Appellant also argues that a breach of this duty exempts the taxpayer who relies on the inaccurate or incomplete information to its detriment from the jurisdictional requirement that it exhaust administrative remedies before filing suit. In its second issue, appellant argues that the trial court abused its discretion by granting the motion to dismiss based on the testimony presented.

A. Motion to Correct Appraisal Roll

Section 25.25 allows a property owner to file a motion with the appraisal review board to correct an error in the appraisal roll that resulted in an incorrect value of the owner’s property. Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 25.25(d). However, section 25.25 allows a correction only if the error resulted in an appraised value that exceeds by more than one-third the correct appraised value. Id. Further, a section 25.25 motion must be filed before the date the taxes become delinquent. Id.

B. Notice

According to section 25.19 of the tax code, the chief appraiser of an appraisal district must deliver a written notice to a property owner of the appraised value of the property owner’s property if the appraised value of the property is greater than it was the preceding year. Id. § 25.19(a)(1) (Vernon Supp.2004-05). Section 41.411 allows a property owner to *452 protest the chief appraiser’s failure to deliver any notice to which the property owner is entitled. Id. § 41.411 (Vernon 2001).

C. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies

Section 42.09 states that the procedures for the adjudication of the grounds of protest authorized by the tax code are exclusive, and a taxpayer may not raise these grounds as a basis for a suit to obtain a refund of taxes paid. Id. § 42.09(a)(2) (Vernon 2001). As a corollary, judicial review of an administrative order is not available unless all administrative remedies have been pursued to the fullest extent.

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164 S.W.3d 448, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3060, 2005 WL 914548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interstate-apartment-enterprises-lc-v-wichita-appraisal-district-texapp-2005.