Union Carbide Corp., In re

• Decision Date: 19 March 1974
• Docket Number: Nos. 13287,s. 13287
• Citation: 157 W.Va. 631,203 S.E.2d 370
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: In re Assessment of UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION. In re Assessment of AMHERST COAL COMPANY. In re Assessment of EASTERN ASSOCIATED COAL CORP. In re Assessment of CHESAPEAKE MINING COMPANY. to 13290.

Page 370

203 S.E.2d 370

157 W.Va. 631

In re Assessment of UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION.

In re Assessment of AMHERST COAL COMPANY.

In re Assessment of EASTERN ASSOCIATED COAL CORP.

In re Assessment of CHESAPEAKE MINING COMPANY.

Nos. 13287 to 13290.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted Jan. 16, 1974.

Decided March 19, 1974.

Syllabus by the Court

'This Court will not reverse the order of a circuit court by which the valuation for taxation purposes of . . . property was reduced on . . . appeal, except (for) an error of law, or where the court's action was clearly not supported by a preponderance of the evidence.' Syllabus pt. 2, Western Maryland Railway Company v. The Board of Public Works, 124 W.Va. 539, 21 S.E.2d 683 (1942).

Patrick Casey, Pros. Atty., Steven C. Hanley, Asst. Pros. Atty., Charleston, for petitioner.

Jackson, Kelly, Holt & O'Farrell, Lee O. Hill and Forrest Roles, Charleston, for respondent.

NEELY, Justice:

This is a tax appeal by the Kanawha County Assessor from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County which reversed the Kanawha County Court. The Kanawha County Court, sitting as a Board of Equalization and Review had affirmed the assessor's valuation of certain coal properties in Kanawha County, and the coal companies appealed to the Circuit Court, which entered a revised assessment. As the cases present common questions of law and fact, they were argued together both in the Circuit Court and in this Court.

In late October 1970 the Kanawha County Assessor sent a complex questionnaire, known as form KCM--170 to all owners of tracts of land of 250 acres or more in Kanawha County. On November 19, 1970 the assessor extended the time for completing the form until December 15, 1970 and deleted some questions which had previously been asked. Amherst Coal Company replied that its property was not underlain with any minable or merchantable coal; Eastern Associated Coal named its seams and its production from them, but failed to complete other data on the questionnaire; Union Carbide returned its form to the substantial satisfaction of the assessor although some questions were not answered; and Chesapeake Mining supplied information concerning only one minable and merchantable seam of coal and deleted or entered 'unknown' on other questions.

On February 1, 1971 the assessor notified the coal companies of drastically increased coal assessments over 1970 based upon a complex income capitalization formula. The following are the assessments for 1970 and 1971:

                                 1970        1971
                            ---------  ----------
                Amherst        34,750     500,120
                Carbide     1,204,100  15,847,277
                Eastern       546,000   9,816,850
                Chesapeake     51,100     552,000
                

After meeting with the coal companies on February 4, 1971, the assessor advised the companies that some assessments would be changed, and on February 22, 1971 some assessments were changed and all assessments were reduced by twenty percent. The coal companies hastily appealed to the County Court, sitting as a Board of Equalization and Review, and hearings began on February 24, 1971. As the County Court lacks jurisdiction to sit as a Board of Equalization and Review after the 28th day of February, under Chapter 11, Article 3, Section 24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, there were only four days available for the prosecution of these appeals, and consequently, only the Amherst case was heard. The records of the other cases were stipulated on the basis of the record made in the Amherst case.

On March 22, 1971, the County Court found the assessments correct and approved the assessor's income capitalization formula. On March 29, 1971 the coal companies appealed to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, and on January 28, 1972 the Circuit Court ruled that the valuation was in excess of the true and actual value of the coal and fixed the correct assessment at the following:

                Amherst     $  91,000
                Carbide     1,312,618
                Eastern     1,529,868
                Chesapeake     55,120
                

During the hearings before the County Court the assessor moved the court to dismiss the appeals on the grounds that the taxpayers had failed to answer all questions asked by the assessor in form KCM--170, and therefore, under Chapter 11, Article 3, Section 10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, the taxpayers were precluded from invoking any remedies against an allegedly erroneous assessment. The Circuit Court found that as the Co...