MDM Holdings, Inc. v. Cuyahoga Cnty. Bd. of Revision

99 N.E.3d 351, 2018 Ohio 541, 152 Ohio St. 3d 555
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 24, 2018
DocketNo. 2015–1065
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 99 N.E.3d 351 (MDM Holdings, Inc. v. Cuyahoga Cnty. Bd. 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
MDM Holdings, Inc. v. Cuyahoga Cnty. Bd. of Revision, 99 N.E.3d 351, 2018 Ohio 541, 152 Ohio St. 3d 555 (Ohio 2018).

Opinion

DeWine, J.

*555{¶ 1} This appeal involves a taxpayer's challenge to the taxable value assigned to its property for tax year 2012. The taxpayer did not file a new complaint for the 2012 tax year, but rather relied upon the continuing-complaint jurisdiction provided for in R.C. 5715.19(D). The Board of Tax Appeals held that the claim was barred because the taxpayer waited too long to notify the board of revision that it wished to pursue a continuing complaint for tax year 2012. We reverse. The time limitation imposed by the BTA is contrary to the plain language of R.C. 5715.19(D).

BACKGROUND

{¶ 2} On March 5, 2012, MDM Holdings, Inc. ("MDM"), filed a complaint before the Cuyahoga County Board of Revision ("BOR"), seeking a reduction in valuation of its property from $688,300 to $463,000 *352for the 2011 tax year. After a hearing, the BOR reduced the value to $605,000 in a decision issued on May 13, 2013. MDM appealed to the BTA on June 11, 2013, and the BTA issued an order granting MDM's request for a voluntary dismissal on February 19, 2014. BTA No. 2013-1619, 2014 Ohio Tax LEXIS 1205 (Feb. 19, 2014).

{¶ 3} That short recitation of facts establishes our key dates. A March 5, 2012 complaint for the 2011 tax year was not resolved by the BOR until May 13, 2013. Because the BOR issued its decision more than 90 days after the complaint was *556filed, the continuing-complaint provision of R.C. 5715.19(D) was triggered. Pursuant to R.C. 5715.19(D), if a taxpayer already has a complaint under review regarding a particular parcel and a board of revision does not determine that complaint within 90 days, the taxpayer need not file complaints in succeeding years regarding that same parcel as long as the original complaint is unresolved. Thus, a county board of revision retains jurisdiction to determine a real-property-valuation dispute for a given tax year even if the taxpayer has filed no formal complaint for that year. E.g. , 1495 Jaeger, L.L.C. v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Revision , 132 Ohio St.3d 222, 2012-Ohio-2680, 970 N.E.2d 949, ¶ 18.

{¶ 4} On January 15, 2015, MDM filed a request letter with the BOR asking it to conduct a hearing on the value of the property for tax year 2012; submitting such a letter to the board of revision is sufficient to invoke the BOR's jurisdiction pursuant to the original complaint. See Columbus Bd. of Edn. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision , 87 Ohio St.3d 305, 306, 720 N.E.2d 517 (1999) ; AERC Saw Mill Village, Inc. v. Franklin Cty. Bd. of Revision, 127 Ohio St.3d 44, 2010-Ohio-4468, 936 N.E.2d 472, ¶ 7.

{¶ 5} The BOR dismissed the request letter based on a 30-day rule formulated by the county. Under that rule, a request letter asserting a continuing complaint is barred if it has not been filed within 30 days of the final decision rendered in the proceeding on the original complaint. Therefore, the BOR related, the request letter had to be filed within 30 days of the BTA's February 19, 2014 disposition of the original complaint regarding tax year 2011.

{¶ 6} On appeal, the BTA affirmed the dismissal, finding that the request letter was untimely-but on a different theory. The BTA held that the request letter was untimely because it had not been filed by the end of 2014, i.e., by the end of the year in which the BTA's final determination of the 2011-tax-year complaint was rendered. MDM appealed to this court.

ANALYSIS

{¶ 7} The question before us is whether the BOR has continuing-complaint jurisdiction over MDM's challenge to the Cuyahoga County fiscal officer's valuation of the subject property for tax year 2012. The relevant statute, R.C. 5715.19(D), reads:

If a complaint filed under this section for the current year is not determined by the board within the time prescribed for such determination [i.e., the 90-day period set forth in R.C. 5715.19(C) ], the complaint and any proceedings in relation thereto shall be continued by the board as a valid *557complaint for any ensuing year until such complaint is finally determined by the board or upon any appeal from a decision of the board. In such case, the original complaint shall continue in effect without further filing by the original taxpayer * * *.

*353{¶ 8} Under the plain language of the statute, the BOR has jurisdiction to consider the valuation of MDM's property for tax year 2012. The proceedings before the BOR for the 2011 tax year began in March 2012 with "a complaint filed under this section" and did not conclude until June 2013, i.e., not "within the time prescribed for such determination." Thus, the BOR had continuing-complaint jurisdiction over the 2012 tax year-2012 was an "ensuing year" in which the complaint was not yet resolved. Therefore, the original complaint "continue[d] in effect without further filing by the original taxpayer" for tax year 2012.

{¶ 9} The BTA held that MDM filed its request letter too late to invoke the BOR's continuing jurisdiction. But, as we recently held in Life Path Partners, Ltd. v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Revision , 152 Ohio St.3d 238, 2018-Ohio-230, 94 N.E.3d 565, ¶ 10, "nothing in [ R.C. 5715.19(D) ] authorizes the BOR to dismiss a continuing complaint for lack of timeliness." Such a deadline is contrary to the plain language of the statute, which provides that until the original complaint is resolved, the complaint "shall continue in effect without further filing by the original taxpayer."

{¶ 10} In Life Path

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 N.E.3d 351, 2018 Ohio 541, 152 Ohio St. 3d 555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mdm-holdings-inc-v-cuyahoga-cnty-bd-of-revision-ohio-2018.