Storguard Investments, LLC v. Harris County Appraisal District

369 S.W.3d 605, 2012 WL 1564162, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 3480
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 3, 2012
DocketNo. 01-10-00439-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 369 S.W.3d 605 (Storguard Investments, LLC v. Harris County 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.

Bluebook
Storguard Investments, LLC v. Harris County Appraisal District, 369 S.W.3d 605, 2012 WL 1564162, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 3480 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION ON REHEARING

EVELYN V. KEYES, Justice.

Appellants, Storguard Investments, LLC (“Storguard”) and Maxima Communications Corp. (“Maxima”), filed a motion for rehearing of our July 21, 2011 opinion. We grant rehearing, withdraw our July 21, 2011 opinion and judgment, and issue this opinion and judgment in their place. The disposition of the case remains unchanged.

In this ad valorem property tax case, Maxima sought judicial review of a Harris County Appraisal Review Board (“the Board”)1 order determining Maxi-[609]*609ma’s protest of the taxes assessed for the 2008 tax year. The Harris County Appraisal District (“HCAD”) filed a plea to the jurisdiction, contending that Maxima lacked standing to pursue judicial review because it did not own the property on January 1, 2008. In response, Maxima moved to add Storguard, the record owner of the property, as a plaintiff pursuant to Tax Code section 42.21(e) and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 28. The trial court granted HCAD’s plea to the jurisdiction. In three issues, Storguard contends that the trial court erred in granting HCAD’s plea to the jurisdiction because (1) Maxima amended its petition for review to cure a misnomer, (2) Storguard had standing to pursue the petition for judicial review, and (8) Storguard satisfied the requirements for Rule 28 substitution.

We affirm.

Background

The subject property is located at 12610 Tanner Road in Houston. On June 5, 2003, Maxima, which has an ownership interest in Storguard, conveyed its interest in the property to Storguard by special warranty deed. HCAD’s records for the property, however, did not reflect this change in ownership and still listed Maxi-ma as the owner of the property in 2008. As a result, HCAD mailed the 2008 Notice of Appraised Value to Maxima, instead of to Storguard. Maxima subsequently protested the appraised value of the property before the Board. On August 1, 2008, the Board issued an order determining the protest to Maxima via Deloney & Associates, its designated agent for the protest process, ordering a reduction in the appraised value of the property.

Pursuant to Tax Code section 42.21(a), Maxima timely filed a petition for judicial review of the Board’s order.2 With its original petition, Maxima included (1) responses to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 194 disclosures, stating that the named plaintiff, Maxima Communications Corp., was the correct name for the plaintiff and that it knew of no potential parties to the suit, and (2) a proposed finding of fact stating that “Plaintiff was the owner of the property that is the subject matter of this lawsuit on January 1 of each of the tax years in question.”

Nineteen months later, in April 2010, HCAD filed a plea to the jurisdiction, contending that the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the petition for review because Maxima did not own the property on January 1, 2008, and, therefore, it lacked standing to protest the Board’s order to the district court. As supporting evidence, HCAD attached the June 5, 2003 deed reflecting the conveyance of the property from Maxima to Stor-guard.

[610]*610In response, Maxima moved to substitute Storguard as plaintiff pursuant to Tax Code section 42.21(e) and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 28. Maxima and Stor-guard argued that the amended petition adding Storguard as a plaintiff “cures a misnomer and relates back to the filing date of the original petition.” The plaintiffs contended that “[tjhere is also no dispute based on the pleadings that the property owner [Storguard] was the actual party that exhausted administrative remedies and pursued the judicial appeal, notwithstanding the misnomer” and that Stor-guard “is the same party that originally sued under the misnomer and under the common name assigned to the property owner by the Defendant [HCAD].” The plaintiffs further argued that Maxima indirectly owned the property because it had an ownership interest in Storguard.

Maxima and Storguard also contended that Rule 28, which allows a plaintiff to substitute its “true name” for the “common name” in which it originally sued, permitted substitution of Storguard as plaintiff. The plaintiffs argued that Maxi-ma was the “common name” of Storguard because HCAD’s records, including the 2008 Notice of Appraised Value and the Board’s order determining protest, listed Maxima as the property owner. Maxima and Storguard argued that Storguard, acting under its “common name” of Maxima, completed the administrative protest process and timely filed the petition for judicial review, and, therefore, it had standing to protest the Board’s order.

The trial court granted HCAD’s plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed Maxima and Storguard’s suit for want of jurisdiction. This appeal followed.

Standard of Review

Standing is a necessary component of subject-matter jurisdiction and cannot be waived. Bland Indep.Sch. Dist. v. Blue, 34 S.W.3d 547, 553-54 (Tex.2000); KM-Timbercreek, LLC v. Harris Cnty.Appraisal Dist., 312 S.W.3d 722, 725 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2009, no pet.). If a party lacks standing, the trial court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case. Blue, 34 S.W.3d at 553-54. If the jurisdictional defect cannot be cured by amending the pleadings, a party may file a plea to the jurisdiction, and if the trial court finds the plea meritorious, it may grant the plea without allowing the plaintiff an opportunity to amend its petition. See Cnty. of Cameron v. Brown, 80 S.W.3d 549, 555 (Tex.2002). A trial court decides a plea to the jurisdiction by reviewing the pleadings as well as any evidence relating to the jurisdictional inquiry. Blue, 34 S.W.3d at 555. We review a trial court’s ruling on a plea to the jurisdiction de novo, construing the pleadings liberally in favor of the plaintiff while considering the pleader’s intent. Tex. Dep’t of Parks & Wildlife v. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d 217, 226, 228 (Tex.2004). When reviewing a plea to the jurisdiction, we cannot examine the merits of the case. See Houston Indep. Sch. Dist. v. 1615 Corp., 217 S.W.3d 631, 635 (Tex.App.Houston [14th Dist.] 2006, pet. denied).

Standing to Pursue Judicial Review

A. Law in Effect before September 1, 2011

Our Court and the Fourteenth Court of Appeals have repeatedly addressed the jurisdictional requirements for seeking judicial review of an adverse property tax determination by the appraisal review board.3 Generally, only the proper[611]*611ty owner has standing to seek judicial review of an appraisal review board order in the district court. KM-Timbercreek, 312 S.W.3d at 726; Tex. Tax Code Ann. §§ 42.01-031 (Vernon 2008 & Supp. 2011) (providing right of appeal to property owner, certain lessees, chief appraiser, county, and taxing unit); see also Toumeau Houston, Inc. v. Harris Cnty. Appraisal Dist.,

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Bluebook (online)
369 S.W.3d 605, 2012 WL 1564162, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 3480, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/storguard-investments-llc-v-harris-county-appraisal-district-texapp-2012.