Joseph Heintz v. Tennessee State Board of Equalization

CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 13, 2026
DocketM2025-00707-COA-R3-CV
StatusPublished
AuthorJudge Steven W. Maroney

This text of Joseph Heintz v. Tennessee State Board of Equalization (Joseph Heintz v. Tennessee State Board of Equalization) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joseph Heintz v. Tennessee State Board of Equalization, (Tenn. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

04/13/2026 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE March 24, 2026 Session

JOSEPH HEINTZ v. TENNESSEE STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

Appeal from the Chancery Court for Davidson County No. 23-0356-1 Patricia Head Moskal, Chancellor ___________________________________

No. M2025-00707-COA-R3-CV

Appellant filed a complaint for judicial review of the Tennessee State Board of Equalization’s decision to deny his request for property tax relief. Because Appellant sought review of an administrative order that had not become final under the applicable version of tax relief statutes, the trial court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject- matter jurisdiction under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act. Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-5-322(a)(1) (“A person who is aggrieved by a final decision in a contested case is entitled to judicial review”) (emphasis added). Affirmed.

Tenn. R. App. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed and Remanded

STEVEN W. MARONEY, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which KRISTI M. DAVIS and VALERIE L. SMITH, JJ., joined.

Robert L. Huskey and Jason L. Huskey, Manchester, Tennessee, for the appellant, Joseph Heintz.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter, J. Matthew Rice, Solicitor General, and J. Hugh McKinnon, Jr., Senior Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, Tennessee State Board of Equalization.

John Freemont Sharpe, Jr., Assistant General Counsel, for the appellee, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury.

OPINION

This appeal requires us to determine whether the trial court properly dismissed Appellant Joseph Heintz’s petition for lack of a final administrative order. We conclude that dismissal was proper. I. Background

On November 29, 2004, Appellant and his significant other, Nancy Lindquist- Graham, entered into an agreement for the disposition of real property located at 228 Briarwood Drive, Manchester, Tennessee (the “Property”). By their agreement, Appellant and Ms. Lindquist-Graham became “one-half (1/2) owners or tenants in common in the [P]roperty.” In 2019, Ms. Lindquist-Graham died, and her interest in the Property vested in her son and sole heir, David Bradley Lindquist. The agreement between Ms. Lindquist- Graham and Appellant provided that the surviving partner would retain possession of the property; accordingly, since Ms. Lindquist-Graham’s death, Mr. Heintz has retained sole possession of the Property.

For the 2021 tax year, Appellant applied to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Office (“Comptroller”) for tax relief under Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-702 and Rule 0600-03 of the Rules of the Tennessee State Board of Equalization (“SBOE,” and together with Comptroller, “Appellees”). At the time Appellant filed for tax relief, Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-702 provided, in part, that:

(a)(1) There shall be paid from the general funds of the state to certain low- income taxpayers sixty-five (65) years of age or older the amount necessary to pay or reimburse such taxpayers for all or part of the local property taxes paid for a given year on that property that the taxpayer owned and used as the taxpayer's residence as provided in this part.

(2) For tax year 2007 and thereafter, the taxpayer’s annual income from all sources shall not exceed twenty-four thousand dollars ($24,000) . . . . The income attributable to the applicant for tax relief shall be the income of all owners of the property . . . .

Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-702(a)(1)-(2). Likewise, SBOE Rule 0600-03-.08 provided that:

(1) A taxpayer, in order to satisfy the income requirement, must not receive a yearly income in excess of the statutory limit. The yearly income will be the total combined income of all property owners for the calendar year prior to the tax year for which property tax relief is requested. ALL income must be included.

In his application, Appellant did not include Mr. Lindquist’s income, causing the Comptroller to deny his request for tax relief by letter of February 16, 2022.

On March 15, 2022, Appellant filed a timely appeal to the SBOE pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-1501(c), which, at the time of Appellant’s appeal, -2- provided:

Appeals to the state board of equalization from initial determinations in exemption and tax relief cases must be filed within ninety (90) days from the date notice of the determination was sent. Appeals from initial decisions of administrative judges or hearing examiners for the state board of equalization must be filed within thirty (30) days from the date the initial decision is sent.

On October 27, 2022, the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”), serving as a hearing examiner under Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-1505, conducted a hearing. Appellant testified, and nine exhibits were admitted. As a basis for his appeal, Appellant argued that the SBOE Rule requiring him to report Mr. Lindquist’s income conflicted with the tax relief statute. Finding no conflict between the statute and the rule, the ALJ proceeded to apply SBOE Rule 0600-03-.08 and Tennessee Code Annotated 67-5-702(a) to find that Appellant’s failure to provide Mr. Lindquist’s income information was fatal to his request for tax relief.1 On January 27, 2023, the ALJ issued an initial decision and order denying Appellant’s application for tax relief.

On February 7, 2023, Appellant requested reconsideration. By order of February 17, 2023, the ALJ denied the petition for reconsideration, finding an absence of any “new evidence, statutory authority, or case law that would warrant the setting aside of the [ALJ’s] Initial Order.”

On March 20, 2023, Appellant filed a “Complaint for Judicial Review of a State Agency Final Decision” in the Chancery Court for Davidson County (“trial court”). Appellant’s petition was brought under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act (“UAPA”), Tennessee Code Annotated section 4-5-301, et seq. The SBOE filed the administrative record in the trial court. Although not named as a party, on April 26, 2023, the Tennessee Division of Property Assessments (“DPA”) filed a response, wherein it moved “the trial court to dismiss the action because the complaint fails to state a claim against defendant upon which relief can be granted.” See Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(6).

The trial court convened a hearing on November 6, 2023. On November 7, 2023, the trial court entered an interim order, wherein it explained that, after reviewing the administrative record,

there is no copy of any final order by the Assessment Appeals Commission

1 The ALJ also applied Tennessee Code Annotated 31-2-103, “The real property of an intestate decedent shall vest immediately upon death of the decedent in the heirs as provided in § 31-2-104,” to find that an ownership interest in the Property vested in Mr. Lindquest upon Ms. Lindquest-Graham’s death.

-3- [(“AAC”)] or SBOE in the Administrative Record, evidencing that the decision by the agency is final. Two orders are included in the Administrative Record, neither of which is a final order: Initial Decision and Order of the Administrative Judge (Administrative Record, pp. 62-67); and Order Denying Taxpayer’s Petition for Reconsideration (Administrative Record, pp. 75-76). Judicial review under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act (“UAPA”), requires a final decision by the administrative agency and that requirement is mandatory and jurisdictional. Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-5- 322.

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Bluebook (online)
Joseph Heintz v. Tennessee State Board of Equalization, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joseph-heintz-v-tennessee-state-board-of-equalization-tennctapp-2026.