Turner v. Tokai Financial Services, Inc.

767 So. 2d 494, 2000 WL 668530
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 24, 2000
Docket2D99-1857
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 767 So. 2d 494 (Turner v. Tokai Financial Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turner v. Tokai Financial Services, Inc., 767 So. 2d 494, 2000 WL 668530 (Fla. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

767 So.2d 494 (2000)

Rob TURNER, as Hillsborough County Property Appraiser; and Larry Fuchs, as Executive Director of the Florida Department of Revenue, Appellants,
v.
TOKAI FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC., d/b/a Master Lease, Appellee.

No. 2D99-1857.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

May 24, 2000.

*495 William D. Shepherd, General Counsel, Tampa, for Appellant Rob Turner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Michael R. Kercher and Mark T. Aliff, Assistant Attorneys General, Tallahassee, for Appellant Larry Fuchs.

Stanley H. Beck, Hallandale, and Evan J. Langbein of Langbein & Langbein, P.A., Aventura, for Appellee.

Gaylord A. Wood, Jr., and B. Jordan Stuart of Wood & Stuart, P.A., New Smyrna Beach, for William Markham and H.W. "Bill" Suber, Amici Curiae.

Benjamin K. Phipps, Tallahassee, for Florida Association of Property Tax Professionals and Florida Taxpayers' Coalition, Amici Curiae.

*496 Steven L. Brannock, Robert E.V. Kelly, Jr., and David C. Borucke of Holland & Knight LLP, Tampa, for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Amicus Curiae.

PARKER, Acting Chief Judge.

Rob Turner, as Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, and Larry Fuchs, as Executive Director of the Florida Department of Revenue (collectively Turner), challenge the trial court's order requiring Turner to deduct certain costs of sale from the market value of tangible personal property when assessing it for ad valorem tax purposes, and requiring Turner to apply that deduction to Tokai Financial Services, Inc.'s (Tokai) 1997 tax assessment. We reverse.

Tokai sued Turner, challenging the 1997 property tax assessment of its tangible personal property. The issue at trial was the value of some 500 pieces of office equipment: primarily copiers, fax machines, office furniture, and medical equipment. In his initial assessment, Turner utilized a "cost approach" to assess Tokai's equipment, applying depreciation to the original cost of the equipment. Turner made no adjustments for the functional or economic obsolescence of the equipment or for changes in the replacement cost of comparable new equipment. Tokai argued that its equipment should be assessed using the "market approach," valuing it based on its current market value in the used/refurbished equipment market. Tokai presented expert testimony at trial concerning the market value of its equipment. The trial court agreed with Tokai, and reduced its assessment to the market value of the equipment as calculated by Tokai's expert. Turner does not challenge this reduction.[1]

Tokai's expert also testified that, in her opinion, the assessment of Tokai's equipment should be further reduced from the market value to reflect certain costs of sale. These costs included 15 percent of the sales price for sales commissions, and an additional 5 percent of the sales price for advertising, warranties, delivery, installation, and product demonstration. Tokai's expert did not testify that Tokai had incurred these costs; rather, she testified that these were the expected costs of sale in the used/refurbished equipment market. Based on this testimony, the trial court ordered Turner to reduce Tokai's assessment by an additional 20 percent to reflect these "costs of sale." It is this further reduction that Turner challenges in this appeal.

The single issue in this case is whether the trial court erred in ruling that costs of sale must be deducted from market value in order to arrive at just valuation for ad valorem tax purposes. The Florida Constitution requires that "regulations shall be prescribed which shall secure a just valuation of all property for ad valorem taxation...." Art. VII, § 4, Fla. Const. The Florida Supreme Court has defined "just valuation" as synonymous with "fair market value." See Walter v. Schuler, 176 So.2d 81, 85-86 (Fla.1965). Therefore, any deductions from "fair market value" mean that the property is not being valued at "just value." In light of this constitutional mandate and its interpretation by the supreme court, we must consider the application and effect of section 193.011, Florida Statutes (1997), which states:

193.011 Factors to consider in deriving just valuation.—In arriving at just valuation as required under s. 4, Art. VII of the State Constitution, the property appraiser shall take into consideration the following factors:
*497 (1) The present cash value of the property, which is the amount a willing purchaser would pay a willing seller, exclusive of reasonable fees and costs of purchase, in cash or the immediate equivalent thereof in a transaction at arm's length;
(2) The highest and best use to which the property can be expected to be put in the immediate future and the present use of the property, taking into consideration any applicable judicial limitation, local or state land use regulation, or historic preservation ordinance, and considering any moratorium imposed by executive order, law, ordinance, regulation, resolution, or proclamation adopted by any governmental body or agency or the Governor when the moratorium or judicial limitation prohibits or restricts the development or improvement of property as otherwise authorized by applicable law. The applicable governmental body or agency or the Governor shall notify the property appraiser in writing of any executive order, ordinance, regulation, resolution, or proclamation it adopts imposing any such limitation, regulation, or moratorium;
(3) The location of said property;
(4) The quantity or size of said property;
(5) The cost of said property and the present replacement value of any improvements thereon;
(6) The condition of said property;
(7) The income from said property; and
(8) The net proceeds of the sale of the property, as received by the seller, after deduction of all of the usual and reasonable fees and costs of the sale, including the costs and expenses of financing, and allowance for unconventional or atypical terms of financing arrangements. When the net proceeds of the sale of any property are utilized, directly or indirectly, in the determination of just valuation of realty of the sold parcel or any other parcel under the provisions of this section, the property appraiser, for the purposes of such determination, shall exclude any portion of such net proceeds attributable to payments for household furnishings or other items of personal property.

Turner argues that the trial court's decision results in an unconstitutional application of the statute. Tokai argues that subsection (8) of the statute requires us to affirm the trial court's decision. After considering both the statute and the existing case law, we conclude that Turner's argument is correct for four reasons.

First, the question in this case is not whether the property appraiser is allowed to make a deduction for costs of sale when determining fair market value. Clearly, the property appraiser can make such a deduction when the circumstances warrant it. See Roden v. GAC Liquidating Trust, 462 So.2d 92, 94 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Broward County, 665 So.2d 272, 275 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). The question in this case is whether the property appraiser is required to make such a deduction. The plain language of the statute clearly indicates that no such deduction is required.

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Bluebook (online)
767 So. 2d 494, 2000 WL 668530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-tokai-financial-services-inc-fladistctapp-2000.