Ga. Court of Appeals Property Assessment Opinion

If you have been following this blog, then you probably know that one of my favorite topics is property tax assessments. Today the Georgia Court of Appeals issued an opinion dealing a blow to the Fulton County Board of Assessors. click here for the opinion

In this case the plaintiff bought a residential property from Freddie Mac in 2011 for $207,000. Pursuant to Georgia law, in the year following the purchase of the property (assuming it was an arms-length transaction), the tax assessor may only assess the property at a value no greater than its purchase price. Therefore, pursuant to Georgia law, as long as the plaintiff’s purchase was a bona fide arms-length transaction, the assessed value of the plaintiff’s house for 2012 could not exceed $207,000.

Despite this, the Fulton County Board of Assessors appraised the property at $370,000. After an appeal to the Board of Equalization the house was assessed at $340,000. The plaintiff appealed that decision to the Superior Court and eventually to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Fulton County did not consider the plaintiff’s purchase from Freddie Mac to be a bona fide arms-length transaction.  Therefore, the Board argued, that it did not have to honor the $207,000 figure. Because Freddie Mac is a government entity, the Board argued, it cannot act in its own best interest and therefore cannot meet the statutory definition of an arm’s length transaction, that requires “both parties to the transaction be acting in their own best interests.”

As a practice Fulton County disregarded the values of all sales involving government entities.  The Court noted that not only is the statute devoid of any language suggesting this policy, but that the Board’s position: “that the best interests of a governmental entity are not and can never be synonymous with the best interests of the public which that entity serves” is “contrary to our fundamental understanding of government.”

Broken down further, the Board basically asserts that a government entity is never buying or selling property at a fair market value. If true, this should be a concern to all citizens.

Thankfully the Court remanded the matter to Superior Court with the instruction to enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff and to consider awarding attorneys’ fees to the plaintiff.

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Pay your pet’s vet bills

Today I was reading recently published opinions by the Georgia Court of Appeals. I read Gomez v. Innocenta case involving a dispute over a veterinarian’s bills for medical services and boarding costs of a dog. After nonpayment of the bills, the vet kept the dog in his possession. The opinion revolved around Georgia’s veterinarian lien statute, O.C.G.A. Section 44-14-490.

I have dealt, quite extensively, with the mechanic and materialmen lien statute but had not realized veterinarians had similar rights after treating or boarding an animal or pet. The statute allows the vet to retain possession of the animal until the bill is paid. If the bill remains unpaid, Section 44-14-490 allows the vet to sell or give away the animal, or euthanize the animal if a humane society is not within a fifty mile radius.

South Carolina has a similar statute found at Section 40-69-285 of the South Carolina Code. South Carolina gives the vet the right to retain the animal until the bill is paid and the right to sell the animal if the bill is not paid within ten days of notice.

It appears that some other states do not give veterinarians similar rights in the animals they treat and board. What do you think?

Please visit my law office’s website at www.nehlaw.com.

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How a fake Facebook profile led to litigation

Last Friday the Georgia Court of Appeals issued the following opinion in the case of Boston v. Athearn: link.

The case involves some mischievous seventh grade students. A couple of seventh graders decided it would be fun to create a fake facebook profile for one of their classmates, a girl, they did not like.

Using the fake profile, the kids  became facebook friends with many of their classmates and teachers. Posing as their classmate, the children posted many derogatory and offensive facebook statuses and claimed that their classmate had a mental illness and took illegal drugs.

The Plaintiffs, who are the parents of the victim suing on the victim’s behalf, filed claims against the children and their parents for libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. As the opinion states, a parent can be held directly liable for their child’s tortious behavior if the parent fails to supervise or control the child “with regard to conduct which poses an unreasonable risk of harming others.”

In this case, the parents were alerted of their child’s tortious actions in May of 2011. The parents did not direct the child to delete or remove the fake facebook profile but only grounded the child for a week. The fake profile remained active for 11 months after the parents were first notified of their child’s involvement in its creation.

One of the questions presented to the Court, was whether a jury could find that the parents were negligent in failing to compel their child to remove the facebook page once they learned of its existence.

The Court answered affirmatively. They found it undisputed that the child created the facebook profile with malicious intent and that the parents “continued to be responsible for supervising [his] use of the computer and Internet after learning that he had created the unauthorized Facebook profile…..Given that the false and offensive statements remained on display, and continued to reach readers…we conclude that a jury could find that the [parents'] negligence proximately caused some part of the injury [Plaintiff] sustained from [the child's] actions….”

Please don’t forget to visit my law office’s website: http://nehlaw.com/

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