Hodsdon v. Duckett, s. 51143-51145
| Decision Date | 30 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 51143-51145,No. 1,s. 51143-51145,1 |
| Citation | 135 Ga.App. 922,219 S.E.2d 634 |
| Parties | Stan HODSDON v. Young DUCKETT et al., Assessors (two cases). COMMERCE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, INC. v. Young DUCKETT et al., Assessors |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
L. Eddie Benton, Jr., Commerce, for appellants.
Griggs & Butterworth, Joseph A. Griggs, Cornelia, for appellees.
Appellants here are taxpayers who filed their notices of appeal to the superior court from the real estate assessments of the Banks County Board of Tax Equalization. Code Ann. § 92-6912(6). The three appeals were consolidated and tried before a jury. Appellants presented evidence of the fair market value of the parcels and rested, and appellee tax assessors presented no evidence.
The court charged the jury: 'Well if you find, upon considering the case, that the court, as the court has instructed you, that if you were to find in favor of the defendant, the form of your verdict would be, 'We, the jury, find in favor of the defendant,' in 1, 2 and 3 cases.' Appellants objected to this charge on the grounds that the jurors were obligated to find the fair market value of the parcels. The jurors returned their verdict, 'We, the jury, vote in favor of the defendant in all three cases,' thereby finding that the assessments of the board of equalization were correct. Upon query from the court as to objections to the form of the verdict, appellants objected on the grounds that the jurors should have ascertained the fair market value of the parcels and that there was no evidence to substantiate the findings of the board of equalization. Appellants are now before this court urging the same objections.
We reverse. The statutory design of appeal to the county board of equalization and then to the superior court contemplates that findings as to fair market value shall be made. Code Ann. § 92-6912(5)(A), (6)(D)(2). Upon appeal to the board of equalization, the determination of the tax assessors as to questions of fact shall be deemed prima facie correct (Code Ann. § 92-6912(5)(D)); and, prior to Ga.L.1974, pp. 609, 610-11, the same presumption applied to the decision of the board of equalization upon appeal to the superior court. Ga.L.1972, pp. 1094, 1099, § 6(C) provided that (Emphasis supplied.) However,...
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Hall County Bd. of Tax Assessors v. Reed, s. 54028-54030
...the superior court under § 92-6912, which "contemplates that findings as to fair market value shall be made." Hodsdon v. Duckett, 135 Ga.App. 922, 923, 219 S.E.2d 634, 635 (1975). Further, the CPA precludes a default judgment from exceeding the amount, or differing in kind or form, from tha......
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Hawkins v. Grady County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 72727
...37(1), 227 S.E.2d 865 (1976). However, no presumption of correctness attached to appellees' assessments. See Hodsdon v. Duckett, 135 Ga.App. 922, 219 S.E.2d 634 (1975). In essence, the taxpayers assert that they met their burden of proof by adducing the only probative evidence as to the fai......
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JC Penney v. BD. OF TAX ASSESSORS, A98A0410.
...Hirsch v. Joint City County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 218 Ga.App. 881, 882(1), 463 S.E.2d 703 (1995). See also Hodsdon v. Duckett, 135 Ga.App. 922, 923, 219 S.E.2d 634 (1975). J.C. Penney presented evidence through an extensive appraisal report and the testimony of two experts to explain why th......