90-3874, 90-3874
| Decision Date | 01 January 2000 |
| Docket Number | 90-3874 |
| Citation | 2000 MBAR 354 |
| Parties | Americo Lopes, Trustee v. City of Peabody |
| Court | Massachusetts Superior Court |
Judge (with first initial, no space for Sullivan, Dorsey, and Walsh): Agnes
This matter is before the court following a remand by the Supreme Judicial Court. See Lopes v. City of Peabody, 430 Mass. 305 (1999). In Lopes, the Supreme Judicial Court noted that the parties were in agreement that the plaintiff had suffered a compensable, temporary regulatory taking of his property in Peabody from 1981 to 1995 and that there was no economically beneficial use of the property during that period. The Court also noted that the parties had not appealed the damages award of $15,000 to the plaintiff following a jury trial in the Superior Court. What was at issue in Lopes was whether the plaintiff was entitled to reimbursement of the real estate taxes he paid on the property from 1981 to 1995. The Supreme Judicial Court concluded that "[b]ecause one hundred per cent of the value of Lopes's land was taken for fourteen years principles of basic fairness compel the same type of refund of property taxes that he would receive if his land had been permanently taken." Id. at 312. The direction given to this court upon remand was as follows: "We remand to the Superior Court to award Lopes reimbursement for the real estate tax he paid, plus interest on that tax." Id. at 313.
Following the remand the plaintiff filed a motion for an evidentiary hearing. Each party also submitted calculations of the taxes owed and paid and the interest due to the plaintiff on a fiscal year basis for the years between 1981 and 1995. The parties agree that employing the assumptions made by each side, the plaintiff and the defendant each have accurately calculated the numbers representing taxes paid and interest owed during the period in question. The dispute is over the assumptions employed by each side in making these calculations. In particular, the parties agree that the plaintiff did not pay any real estate taxes on the property in question from 1981 to 1990. On May 29, 1991, the plaintiff paid $4,946.65 in taxes for the 1981 to 1990 fiscal years. Furthermore, it is agreed that the plaintiff paid $3,701.09 in property taxes for the 1991 to 1995 fiscal years on November 25, 1997. The plaintiff's position is that he is entitled to reimbursement for the total amount of property taxes he paid for the years 1981 to 1995 (even though the taxes were not paid in the years in which they were assessed and even though a portion of the taxes for that period was not paid until 1997) and to interest on the tax due each year even though the tax was not actually paid during the year it was assessed. The City of Peabody takes the position that the plaintiff is entitled to reimbursement only for property taxes actually paid during the period 1981 to 1995, and to interest only on property taxes actually paid during those years beginning with the year in which the tax was paid. For these reasons, the parties agreed that an evidentiary hearing was not necessary and that the matter could be decided by the court on the basis of the written data submitted by each party.
The plaintiff's position is that he is entitled to reimbursement for interest with regard to property taxes that were due between 1981 and 1995. The plaintiff's method for determining the interest that is due to him involves two calculations. The first calculation by the plaintiff relates to the period 1981 to 1990.1 The plaintiff maintains that he is entitled to a reimbursement for interest during this period and that it should be determined by taking the property tax that was owed for each year during the period in question (1981 to 1990), multiplying it by 10% (the interest charge), and then multiplying it by a number which represents the difference between the year the tax was due and 1995. By this method, the plaintiff calculates that he is owed interest in the amount of $9,015.78 for taxes owed between 1981 and 1990. The plaintiff goes on to calculate an additional interest amount of $4,302 which represents interest at the rate of 0.83% per month for the 58-month period between 1995 and May 31, 2000. Thus, the plaintiff's first calculation leads him to the conclusion that the City of Peabody is required to reimburse him $13,317.78 in interest for the period 1981 to 1995.
The plaintiff's second calculation is designed to determine the interest which he says is also due to him for the period from 1991 to 1995. As noted above, the plaintiff paid property taxes totaling $3,701.09 on November 25, 1997 for this period. The formula he uses to calculate interest due to him for this period is to take the tax owed each year multiply it by 10% (the interest charge), and multiply it again by the difference between that year and 1995. Using this methodology the plaintiff maintains that for the period 1991 to 1995 the City is required to reimburse him for the tax paid ($3,701.09) along with interest in the amount of $921.57 for a total of $4622.66.
As a result of these two calculations, the plaintiff asserts that the City of Peabody should be required to reimburse him a total of $17,940.44.
The City of Peabody takes the position that the defendant is entitled to reimbursement only for property taxes actually paid during the period 1981 to 1995 (which the defendant states is represented by the $4,946.65 paid by the plaintiff on May 29, 1991) along with interest at the rate of 10% per year for the years following the property tax payment by the plaintiff (the four-year period from 1991 to 1995). Under...
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