Justia Real Estate & Property Law Opinion Summaries

The circuit court erred when it applied de novo review to a decision of the America Township Board of Supervisors and then reversed the Board’s decision downgrading a seven-mile stretch of road from full maintenance to minimum maintenance. A portion of the road at issue provided Appellees access to South Dakota Highway 50. Appellees appealed the Board’s decision. The circuit court reversed the Board’s decision and ordered that minimum maintenance signs be taken down. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part, holding (1) Appellees’ lawsuit was not barred by lack of standing or by sovereign immunity; (2) the circuit court did not err in concluding that the Board acted arbitrarily because the Board failed to consider an important aspect of the issue under S.D. Codified Laws 31-13-1.1; but (3) the circuit court should have remanded the matter back to the Board for a rehearing rather than applying de novo review to the Board’s decision. View "Surat v. America Township" on Justia Law

The circuit court erred in relying on principles of res judicata to refuse to stay an injunction brought by the City of Staunton’s Zoning Administrator against the landowner in this case pending further proceedings before the City’s Board of Zoning Appeals and erred in granting the injunction against the landowner. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the circuit court as to the stay and the injunctive relief sought, holding (1) the doctrine of res judicata that the circuit court relied on was not a proper basis to deny the stay based on prior administrative or circuit court proceedings; and (2) as a result, the final order granting an injunction, when the landowner had not been given the opportunity to exhaust her administrative remedies, was in error. View "Chilton-Belloni v. Angle" on Justia Law

Freeman's company, RNR located eight mining claims on public lands of the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest. In 2011, RNR filed a plan of operations with the U.S. Forest Service for commercial mining of ore that “contains commercially recoverable amounts of nickel, chromium[,] and iron” from two deposits over the course of 30 years. RNR proposed the construction of nearly eight miles of new roads, excavation of a pit for water storage, construction of two crossings over a creek, and creation of a processing facility on a 20-acre site, to be located on lands managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Officials concluded that the BLM office had not received a complete plan of operation and requested a proposal for bulk sampling and construction of a pilot-prototype plant. Officials repeatedly asserted they would not process the pending plan without more specific information and a pilot-prototype. RNR did not respond to those requests, but sued, alleging a regulatory taking. The Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal, of the suit finding the claim not ripe. The Forest Service has not reached a final decision and it is not clear compliance with its requests would be futile. View "Freeman v. United States" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the Nebraska Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC), which affirmed the valuation of the Washington County Board of Equalization of two parcels of land owned by William Burdess located in Washington County. Both parcels consisted of agricultural land, a homesite, a secondary building, and wasteland. Burdess protested the 2013 through 2016 assessed values of the two parcels, arguing that the wasteland and homesite acres were not properly valued. The TERC affirmed the Board’s decision as to the value of the wasteland and homesite acres. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the TERC did not err in its valuation of the wasteland and in its valuation of the homesite acres associated with the property. View "Burdess v. Washington County Board of Equalization" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court vacated the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) affirming the Franklin County Board of Revision’s (BOR) reduced valuation of a residential property in the amount of $65,000 for tax year 2011. The Franklin County auditor assigned a true value of $113,000 for tax year 2011. The owner filed a complaint seeking a reduction. The BOR reduced the property’s value to $65,000. The BTA upheld the BOR’s determination of value as sufficiently supported by the record. The Supreme Court remanded the matter to the BTA, holding that the BTA failed to evaluate independently the evidence to determine the value of the subject property. View "South-Western City School District Board of Education v. Franklin County Board of Revision" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the Board of Tax Appeals’ (BTA) decision on remand adopting the appraisal valuation of the property owner’s appraiser for the second time. The property at issue was a vacant 22.27-acre parcel that the Delaware County auditor valued at $654,100 for tax year 2011. The property owner challenged the valuation and presented an appraisal determining a value of $580,000 for the property. The Delaware County Board of Revision (BOR) ordered a reduction to $580,000 after adopting the appraisal. The BTA affirmed the adoption of the appraisal. The Supreme Court issued a remand order based on the parties’ stipulation that the BTA should address certain issues. On remand, the BTA addressed those issues and again relied on the appraisal of the property owner’s appraiser. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the BTA acted reasonably and lawfully when it relied on the appraisal. View "Olentangy Local Schools Bd. of Education v. Delaware County Board of Revision" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) in this case disputing the valuation of real property retained by an owner after it sold a portion of its property during the tax year at issue and remanded the cause for the BTA to properly determine the value of the subject property. In 2009, the owner of the original parcel conveyed a single condominium unit for the Delaware County Board of County Commissioners for $2 million. For tax year 2009, the Delaware County auditor valued the conveyed parcel at $622,100 and the retained parcel at $1,677,900, for a total value of $2,300,000. The owner argued that the conveyed parcel’s 2009 value must be $2 million, leaving $300,000 as the value of its retained parcel. The Delaware County Board of Revision (BOR) agreed. The BTA reversed and reinstated the auditor’s valuation. The Supreme Court vacated the BTA’s decision, holding (1) the BTA’s finding that the sale was not recent to the tax-lien date was reasonable and lawful; but (2) the BTA improperly reinstated the auditor’s valuation because that valuation incorrectly apportioned 2.815 acres of condominium property to the retained parcel. View "Olentangy Local Schools Board of Education v. Delaware County Board of Revision" on Justia Law

The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) are federally-chartered, privately-owned corporations, created by Congress to bolster the housing market. In 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) was appointed as conservator for both. Both purchase mortgages from third-party lenders, bundle them and sell mortgage-backed securities. When a borrower defaults, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac forecloses and takes title to the property securing the loan, for sale to a private buyer. In 2013-2014, the buyers purchased Chicago property from Fannie Mae. Chicago imposes a Real Property Transfer Tax on the purchaser. The supplemental “CTA portion” of the transfer tax is paid by the transferor, unless the transferor is legally exempt, in which case the transferee is held responsible. The Illinois Department of Finance ruled that each buyer was liable for the tax. The district court held that the tax was preempted by the federal exemption statutes. The Seventh Circuit reversed. In 2013, the Seventh Circuit held that state and local taxing authorities could not charge Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or FHFA with transfer taxes because such taxes are preempted by federal laws exempting these entities from all taxation, but that reasoning does not apply when the tax is imposed on the purchaser. View "Federal National Mortgage Association v. City of Chicago" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs Frank and Martha Buck, challenged the Court of Civil Appeals’ decision to affirm the trial court's judgment in favor of defendants CH Highland, LLC (“Highland”) and the City of Birmingham (“City”) in their challenge to a City rezoning ordinance. The Bucks owned property in the City. Highland, a real-estate-development company, wanted to build a multistory apartment complex ("the project") on property located adjacent to the Bucks' property. As planned, the project did not conform with the then existing zoning restrictions for the area in which the subject property was located. Thus, Highland submitted a rezoning application to the Zoning Advisory Committee of the Birmingham Planning Commission. Highland requested that the subject property be rezoned from a "B-2 general business district" to a "B-3 community business district" so that it could construct the project. The Alabama Supreme Court found that the proposed rezoning ordinance that was published merely indicated to the public that there would be a zoning change from a B-2 district to a B-3 district. Ordinance 1949-G did not create a B-3 district; instead, it created a district of a substantially smaller range of uses than what was otherwise disclosed to the public in the Public Notice of the rezoning change. “Even if this Court were to reject the long-standing rule that, to invalidate an ordinance, it is unnecessary for the public to be prejudiced by the City's failure to publish the ordinance, we cannot presume that no prejudice occurred in this case.” The Court reversed the Court of Civil Appeals, and the case was remanded for further proceedings. View "Ex parte Buck." on Justia Law

Salt Lake City’s denial of the request of Outfront Media, LLC, formerly CBS Outdoor, LLC (CBS), to relocate its billboard and grant of the relocation request of Corner Property L.C. were not arbitrary, capricious, or illegal.CBS sought to relocate its billboard to an adjacent lot along Interstate 15, and Corner Property sought to relocate its billboard to the lot CBS was vacating. On appeal, CBS argued that the City’s decision to deny its requested relocation was illegal because the City invoked the power of eminent domain to effect a physical taking of CBS’s billboard without complying with the procedural requirements that constrain the use of eminent domain. The district court upheld the City’s decisions. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the Billboard Compensation Statute, Utah Code 10-9a-513, creates a standalone compensation scheme that does not incorporate, expressly or impliedly, the procedural requirements that circumscribe the eminent domain power; and (2) the City’s decision was not illegal, arbitrary or capricious. View "Outfront Media, LLC v. Salt Lake City Corp." on Justia Law