The real property tax dispute division at E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy, which represents commercial, individual, and municipal clients
across New York, recently earned a significant victory for its client, the Town of Williamson, in Rite Aid Corp. v. Haywood, an appeal to the State’s second highest court.
Patrick L. Seely, Jr., a partner with E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy argued the Town’s case before the Fourth Department of the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division after a lower court determined that the Town Assessor had over-assessed the value of a Rite Aid store in the Town for three years. Four judges on the five-judge panel agreed with Mr. Seely’s arguments that the court below failed to take into account evidence that the Town’s assessor had relied, on the recent sale price of the property in question, as well as evidence of the recent sales prices of other, similar drug stores in arriving at his valuation. Both of these factors, under well-established law, are typically recognized as the best indicators of a property’s value. Based on the lower Court’s failure to consider such important evidence, the Court therefore dismissed two of Rite Aid’s claims outright, and made only a small adjustment to the property’s assessment for the 2010/2011 tax year.
By earning a positive result for the Town of Williamson, E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy helps to ensure that residents of the Town, and of Wayne County as a whole won’t have to pay more than their fair share of taxes due to Rite Aid’s unwillingness to contribute its own fair share.
If you believe that your tax assessment may not accurately reflect the value of your property, or if you believe that you may be paying more than your share of property taxes, contact the law offices of E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy for a free, no-obligation consultation. Tax Certiorari proceedings, through which property tax disputes are typically challenged in New York, are highly specialized legal actions. The attorneys in E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy’s Real Property Tax Dispute division have more than seventy years’ combined experience – and a long track record of success in handling this intricate area of the law.