Arsenis v. Borough of Bernardsville

• Docket Number: DOCKET NO. A-0603-21
• Decision Date: 28 June 2023
• Citation: 298 A.3d 366,476 N.J. Super. 195
• Parties: C. ARSENIS, S. Arsenis, and G. Arsenis, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BOROUGH OF BERNARDSVILLE, Edward Kerwin, Tax Assessor, Tom Czerniecki, Borough Administrator, and Anthony Suriano, Borough Clerk, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

476 N.J.Super. 195
298 A.3d 366

C. ARSENIS, S. Arsenis, and G. Arsenis, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
BOROUGH OF BERNARDSVILLE, Edward Kerwin, Tax Assessor, Tom Czerniecki, Borough Administrator, and Anthony Suriano, Borough Clerk, Defendants-Respondents.

DOCKET NO. A-0603-21

Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.

Submitted September 21, 2022
Decided June 28, 2023

Hegge & Confusione, LLC, attorneys for appellants (Michael Confusione, of counsel and on the brief).

Parker McCay, PA, attorneys for respondents (John C. Gillespie, and Alexis C. Smith, Mount Laurel, on the brief).

Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi, PC, and Zipp & Tannenbaum, LLC, attorneys for amicus curiae Association of Municipal Assessors of New Jersey (John R. Lloyd and Peter J. Zipp, Jamesburg, of counsel and on the brief).

Before Judges Haas, DeAlmeida, and Mitterhoff.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

DeALMEIDA, J.A.D.

476 N.J.Super. 199

We consider whether the Superior Court has jurisdiction to adjudicate claims for monetary damages, filed years after the statutory deadline for filing a tax appeal, based on allegations that municipal officials committed fraud and other torts by assessing real property in a manner inconsistent with law and at an amount above its true market value. We conclude that the Superior Court lacks jurisdiction to hear such claims because they are substantively equivalent to a tax appeal properly venued in the Tax Court or a county board of taxation, and the statutory deadlines for challenging local property tax assessments may not be circumvented

476 N.J.Super. 200

by a late-filed complaint seeking damages for alleged torts arising from the tax assessment process. In light of these conclusions, we affirm the trial court order dismissing the complaint in this matter with prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

I.

In 2012, plaintiffs C. Arsenis, S. Arsenis, and G. Arsenis purchased residential real property in defendant Borough of Bernardsville for $6,267,500. The parcels are designated in the records of the municipality as Block 16, Lots 5 and 6.01.

Starting in 2013, and in every year thereafter, plaintiffs submitted a forest management plan seeking to qualify a portion

298 A.3d 369

of the property for assessment under the Farmland Assessment Act of 1964, N.J.S.A. 54:4-23.1 to -23.23. Pursuant to annual district-wide reassessments and plaintiffs’ farmland assessment applications, the property was assessed for local property tax purposes as follows:

Block 16, Lot 6.01

Year	Acres	Land	Improvements	Total
2012	5	$795,000	$1,694,500	$2,489,500
2013	5	$755,000	$2,224,400	$2,979,400
2014	4	$664,000	$2,394,300	$3,058,300
2015	4	$664,000	$2,475,800	$3,139,800
2016	4	$664,000	$2,509,900	$3,173,900
2017	4	$664,000	$2,417,800	$3,081,800
2018	4	$628,000	$2,321,600	$2,949,600
2019	4	$588,000	$2,732,000	$3,320,000
2020	3	$536,000	$2,673,800	$3,209,800

Block 16, Lot 6.01, Qual. Q0017

476 N.J.Super. 201

Year	Acres	Land	Improvements	Total
2012	47.58	$7,300	$0	$7,300
2013	47.58	$7,300	$0	$7,300
2014	48	$6,300	$0	$6,300
2015	48	$6,300	$0	$6,300
2016	48	$6,200	$0	$6,200
2017	49	$6,400	$0	$6,400
2018	49	$6,500	$0	$6,500
2019	49	$2,700	$0	$2,700
2020	49	$6,000	$0	$6,000

Block 16, Lot 5, Qual. Q0017

298 A.3d 370

Year	Acres	Land	Improvements	Total
2012	.5	$100	$0	$100
2013	.5	$100	$0	$100
2014	.5	$100	$0	$100
2015	.5	$100	$0	$100
2016	.5	$100	$0	$100
2017	.5	$100	$0	$100
2018	.5	$100	$0	$100
2019	.5	$100	$0	$100
2020	.5	$13,000	$0	$13,000

Plaintiffs did not file complaints in the Tax Court or petitions in the Somerset County Board of Taxation (Board) challenging the assessments on their property for tax years 2013 through 2019.See N.J.S.A. 54:3-21 (establishing deadlines for filing a petition of appeal with a county board of taxation and, for properties assessed in excess of $1,000,000, a complaint with the Tax Court, challenging the annual assessment on real property for local property tax purposes.).¹

476 N.J.Super. 202

On March 14, 2021, plaintiffs filed...