PALM BEACH MALL, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
THE CITY OF WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, ET AL., APPELLEES. (TWO CASES); PALM BEACH MALL, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT, V. JACK DEAN, COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR OF PALM BEACH COUNTY ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 1973-06-08
Nos. 71-366 to 71-368
WALDEN and MAGER, JJ., concur., REED, C. J., dissents, with opinion.
279 So. 2d 56 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1973) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Palm Beach Mall challenged ad valorem tax valuations set by the City of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County for 1968-1969. The appellate court reversed the trial court's valuations, finding them unsupported by competent substantial evidence because the defendant's appraiser failed to reasonably relate valuation factors to the specific property.


Holding

The trial court's valuations were not supported by competent substantial evidence. While the appraiser's approaches (market data and income methods) were conventional, they were based on erroneous factors that failed to reasonably relate to the specific property. The appellant's proposed valuations of $11-11.4 million were also unsupported by evidence.


Headnotes

[1] Ad valorem tax valuations are not supported by competent substantial evidence when the trial court's findings are exclusively based on the testimony of one appraiser whos…

[2] A tax assessment's prima facie correctness is rebutted when the taxing authority concedes that its assessed value is excessive and unsupported by evidence.

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“the tax values found by the trial court are not supported by competent substantial evidence”

The court's threshold finding invalidating the lower court's valuations for lack of evidentiary support.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The trial court fixed ad valorem tax valuations for Palm Beach Mall at $15.5 million (City, 1968), $15.1 million (City, 1969), and $15.1 million (Coun…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

These are consolidated appeals from a final judgment fixing ad valorem tax valuation on the property of the appellant for the years 1968 and 1969. The trial court found the following values for City and County taxes: 1968, valuation of 15.5-mil-lion dollars for City tax purposes; 1969, valuation-for City tax purposes 15.1-million dollars; and 1969, valuation for County tax purposes 15.1-million dollars.

From a review and consideration of the record before this court we are of the opinion that the tax values found by the trial court are not supported by competent substantial evidence. As the trial court observed, the City conceded that its assessed value of $19,752,400.00 for 1968, and $20,000,200.00 for 1969 were excessive and were not supported by evidence at the trial.1 The tax value determined by the *57lower court was based exclusively on the testimony of defendant’s appraiser.2 The various approaches utilized by the defendant’s appraiser in arriving at certain valuations, i. e., market data approach and an income approach, was premised upon a consideration of comparable sales and an analysis of case studies involving shopping center valuations. In our opinion the premise relied upon by the appraiser was faulty inasmuch as there was a failure to reasonably relate the factors upon which the appraiser relied to the specific property in question. While the approaches utilized by the appraiser and relied upon by the court are conventional, the values ultimately determined were predicated upon consideration of erroneous factors.

Although the appellant, through his own appraisers, presented evidence that the value of the property for tax purposes for 1968 and 1969 was between 11-million and 11.4-million dollars, we are also of the opinion that such evidence does not support the appellant’s asserted value.

Accordingly and with due recognition of the complexities involved in the determination of tax values we must reverse the order appealed from and remand the same for new trial consistent herewith.

Reversed and remanded.

WALDEN and MAGER, JJ., concur.

REED, C. J., dissents, with opinion.

REED, Chief Judge

(dissenting).

The issue presented by this appeal is whether or not the trial court’s judgment is supported by competent substantial evidence of the just value of the Palm Beach Mall for ad valorem tax purposes for the years 1968 and 1969. The appellant, Palm Beach Mall, Inc., owns the mall. It claims that the trial court’s determinations were too high. The appellees, the City of West Palm Beach and the County of Palm Beach, claim that the determinations of the trial court equate with just value and are based on competent, substantial evidence.

The evidence relied on by the trial judge was the testimony and the written report of an appraiser who was presented as an expert witness on behalf of the city and county. The appraiser, Samuel F. Holden, used three approaches to value while considering all of the statutory criteria set out in § 193.011, F.S.1969, F.S.A. He used the cost approach, the market data approach, and the income approach. Each was developed in great detail by the testimony and supporting exhibits presented by Mr. Holden. On the basis of Holden’s testimony, the trial judge found the fair market value of the property in question to be $15,500,000.00 on January 1, 1968, and $15,100,000.00 on January 1, 1969. The latter finding, in effect, sustained the assessment placed on the property by the county tax assessor for the year 1969. If the eivdence presented by the defendants’ appraiser is competent substantial evidence of value, as I believe it to be, it follows that such evidence is competent substantial evidence which supports the trial court’s findings of value.

For the foregoing reasons, I think the judgment appealed from should be affirmed.

Dissent
REED, Chief Judge

REED, Chief Judge

(dissenting).

The issue presented by this appeal is whether or not the trial court’s judgment is supported by competent substantial evidence of the just value of the Palm Beach Mall for ad valorem tax purposes for the years 1968 and 1969. The appellant, Palm Beach Mall, Inc., owns the mall. It claims that the trial court’s determinations were too high. The appellees, the City of West Palm Beach and the County of Palm Beach, claim that the determinations of the trial court equate with just value and are based on competent, substantial evidence.

The evidence relied on by the trial judge was the testimony and the written report of an appraiser who was presented as an expert witness on behalf of the city and county. The appraiser, Samuel F. Holden, used three approaches to value while considering all of the statutory criteria set out in § 193.011, F.S.1969, F.S.A. He used the cost approach, the market data approach, and the income approach. Each was developed in great detail by the testimony and supporting exhibits presented by Mr. Holden. On the basis of Holden’s testimony, the trial judge found the fair market value of the property in question to be $15,500,000.00 on January 1, 1968, and $15,100,000.00 on January 1, 1969. The latter finding, in effect, sustained the assessment placed on the property by the county tax assessor for the year 1969. If the eivdence presented by the defendants’ appraiser is competent substantial evidence of value, as I believe it to be, it follows that such evidence is competent substantial evidence which supports the trial court’s findings of value.

For the foregoing reasons, I think the judgment appealed from should be affirmed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Dean v. Palm Beach Mall, Inc., 297 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 1974)
    …BOYD, Justice. This cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to review the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, reported at 279 So. 2d 56. Our jurisdiction is based upon conflict1 between the decision sought to be reviewed and Powell v. Kelly,2 Exchange Realty Corp. v. Hillsborough Co.,3 and McNayr v. Claughton,4 inter alia. The facts of this case are as follows. Respondent, being di…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw