A.F. Moore & Assocs., Inc. v. Pappas
A.F. Moore & Assocs., Inc. v. Pappas
Opinion of the Court
Before the Court is Defendants Maria Pappas ("Collector"), Joseph Berrios ("Assessor"), and the County of Cook's ("County") (collectively, "Defendants") motion to dismiss Plaintiffs A.F. Moore & Associates, Inc. ("A.F. Moore"), J. Emil Anderson & Son, Inc. ("Anderson"), Prime Group Realty Trust ("Prime Group"), American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons ("AAOS"), Erling Eide ("Eide"), *595Fox Valley/River Oaks Partnership ("Fox Valley"), and Simon Property Group, Inc.'s ("Simon Property") (collectively, "Plaintiffs") Complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). Also before the Court is Assessor's separate motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). For the following reasons, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants' motion. The Court also denies Assessor's motion.
BACKGROUND
At the motion to dismiss stage, the Court assumes that the following facts from the complaint are true and draws all reasonable inferences in Plaintiffs' favor. Murphy v. Walker ,
A.F. Moore is an Illinois corporation that held an interest in a Bridgeview, Illinois property that was improved with an industrial building. Anderson is an Illinois corporation with an interest in a Niles, Illinois property that was also improved with an industrial building. Prime Group is a real estate investment trust that held an interest in property in Rolling Meadows, Illinois that was improved with a multi-tenant office building. AAOS is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation with an interest in property in Rosemont, Illinois improved with a surgical training facility and office building. Eide held an interest in property in Northbrook, Illinois that was improved with a retail store. Fox Valley, an Illinois general partnership, and Simon Property, a Delaware corporation, held interests in a shopping center in Calumet City, Illinois.
Collector is the duly elected and acting Treasurer and Ex Officio County Collector of Cook County. She is charged with issuing tax bills, collecting taxes, and paying refunds for taxes that have been overpaid or collected upon incorrect, illegal, or unconstitutional assessments. She is sued in her official capacity.
Assessor is the duly elected and acting Assessor of Cook County. He is charged with assessing all taxable properties in Cook County for purposes of taxation based on their market values and at uniform assessment levels within each property class. He is sued in his official capacity.
The County is a government entity and is the Illinois county responsible for funding the Collector and Assessor's offices. The County is liable for any monetary judgment entered against Collector or Assessor in their official capacities and is only named for this purpose.
To understand the dispute underlying this case, a brief overview of Illinois property tax law is necessary. Illinois maintains a system of ad valorem property taxation governed by the state constitution. The constitution provides that real property can be broken down into categorical classifications for taxation purposes. However, such classifications need to be reasonable, and assessments need to be uniform within each class. Ill. Const. 1970, Art. IX, § 4 (b). Furthermore, the assessment level of the highest class in a county may not exceed two and a half times the assessment level of the lowest class in that county.
To satisfy these requirements, the County enacted the Cook County Real Property Assessment Classification Ordinance ("Classification Ordinance"), Code of Ordinances of Cook County § 74-60 et seq. The Classification Ordinance separated properties into single-family residential, not-for-profit, commercial, and industrial classes, as is relevant here. The Classification Ordinance mandated that Assessor assess single-family residential properties at sixteen percent of their market value; not-for-profit properties at thirty percent; commercial *596properties at thirty eight percent; and industrial properties at thirty six percent. Code of Ord. § 74-64.
From 2000 to 2008, Assessor allegedly undervalued most, but not all, single-family residential, commercial, and industrial property in the County. This practice brought the assessment levels to approximately nine percent for single-family residential properties, twenty five percent for commercial properties, and twenty percent for industrial properties-rates far below the level required by law. Based on these assessment levels, Collector issued tax bills and collected taxes from property owners. Plaintiffs allege that the assessment rates actually utilized were concealed from the public.
In 2008, then-Assessor James Houlihan announced a proposal to recalibrate the classification system to decrease the statutory assessment levels to ten and twenty five percent of the market value, depending on the type of property involved. He noted that this proposal would marry the assessment levels with the current market values and codify the County's existing practices.
Plaintiffs are taxpayers whose properties were assessed at or above the level required by law, as opposed to the widely utilized underassessment rate. Plaintiffs allege that this valuation discrepancy caused them to pay taxes at a higher rate than most other taxpayers in the same class and above the maximum level permitted by Illinois' laws and constitution. Plaintiffs claim to have overpaid property taxes by the following amounts: A.F. Moore by $ 805,019; Anderson by $ 755,611; Prime Group by $ 8,648,343; AAOS by $ 458,263; Eide by $ 1,199,006; and Fox Valley and Simon Property by $ 16,434,354.
Plaintiffs objected to their overpayment and requested refunds in the Cook County Circuit Court pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Illinois Property Tax Code, which was amended in 1995. 35 ILCS 200/23-15. Plaintiffs claim that the 1995 amendments have left them with an inadequate remedy at the state court level, asserting that the procedures are riddled with uncertainty and delay. Specifically, Plaintiffs complain of the statutory presumption that the assessment valuations are correct, the "clear and convincing evidence" burden to overcome that presumption, the inability to name Assessor as a defendant to the action, the inability to introduce evidence of Assessor misconduct, the prohibition on class actions, and that Collector is not required to answer their complaint. Moreover, Plaintiffs emphasize that their case has been litigated at the Cook County Court for over a decade, yet it remains in the discovery stage.
Based on the underlying tax assessments and the remedial procedures experienced thereafter, Plaintiffs filed the instant complaint, alleging equal protection and due process violations pursuant to
LEGAL STANDARD
A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) challenges the jurisdictional sufficiency of the complaint, but it is otherwise "analyzed as any other motion to dismiss." United Phosphorus Ltd. v. Angus Chem. Co. ,
A motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) "tests the sufficiency of the complaint, not the merits of the case." McReynolds v. Merrill Lynch & Co. ,
DISCUSSION
Defendants urge the Court to dismiss the complaint for two reasons: (1) the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because Plaintiff's claim is barred by the Tax Injunction Act ("TIA"),
I. Subject Matter Jurisdiction
As the Seventh Circuit has emphasized, "the requirement that jurisdiction be established as a threshold matter springs from the nature and limits of the judicial power of the United States' and is inflexible and without exception." Scott Air Force Base Prop., LLC v. Cty. of St. Clair, III ,
A. Tax Injunction Act
"Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction." Int'l Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, AFL-CIO v. Ward ,
*598This prescription applies with equal force to suits based on constitutional violations or those seeking declaratory or injunctive relief. Scott Air Force Base ,
To determine whether the TIA will strip this Court of subject matter jurisdiction, we must first evaluate whether the remedy available in the Illinois state court is "plain, speedy and efficient."
For over two decades, the Seventh Circuit has upheld the Illinois tax objection procedures as a "plain, speedy and efficient" remedy under the TIA. Heyde v. Pittenger ,
*599Plaintiffs next contend that the Illinois procedures are not speedy or efficient because their case has proceeded in the state court for over a decade. However, this inquiry does not turn on the length of the specific proceedings at issue, but rather the typical length of resolution. Rosewell ,
Although Plaintiffs acknowledge the weight of the precedent against them, they insist that the adequacy of the Illinois procedures remains an open question because none of the prior rulings considered the 1995 amendments. While no case has directly and comprehensively addressed the 1995 amendments, the Seventh Circuit has considered individual features of the amendments and reached the conclusion that the Illinois procedures afford an adequate remedy. See Heyde ,
Taking a cue from the Seventh Circuit's evaluations, the Court finds that the 1995 amendments do not evince the need to deviate from the decades of Supreme Court and Circuit Court precedent establishing that the Illinois procedures afford Plaintiffs an adequate tax-objection remedy. Given that Plaintiffs have a "plain, speedy and efficient" remedy in state court, the TIA strips the Court of jurisdiction over Plaintiff's claims.
B. Comity
Unlike the TIA's jurisdictional divestment, comity is a "doctrine of abstention." Perry ,
The Seventh Circuit has echoed this sentiment, cautioning courts not to interfere with state taxation. Cosgriff ,
In assessing whether state remedies are "plain, adequate, and complete," the Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit have instructed district courts to use the analysis dictated by the TIA. Fair Assessment ,
II. Sufficiency of Pleadings
Because the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over this case, the Court cannot weigh in on the merits of Defendants' or Assessor's motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Accordingly, those motions are denied as moot.
CONCLUSION
For the aforementioned reasons, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants' motion and denies Assessor's motion as moot. It is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- A.F. MOORE & ASSOCIATES, INC., J. Emil Anderson & Son, Inc., Prime Group Realty Trust, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Erling Eide, Fox Valley/River Oaks Partnership, and Simon Property Group, Inc. v. Maria PAPPAS, Cook County Treasurer and Ex Officio County Collector, Joseph Berrios, Cook County Assessor, and the County of Cook
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published