Union Carbide Corp. v. Danbury

• Decision Date: 04 September 2001
• Docket Number: (SC 16456)
• Citation: 257 Conn. 865,778 A.2d 204
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION v. CITY OF DANBURY

257 Conn. 865

778 A.2d 204

UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION v. CITY OF DANBURY

(SC 16456)

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 20, 2001.

Officially released September 4, 2001.

Norcott, Katz, Palmer, Vertefeuille and Zarella, JS. Elliott B. Pollack, with whom was Marjorie S. Wilder, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Daniel E. Casagrande, with whom, on the brief, was Kim E. Nolan, for the appellee (defendant).

Opinion

ZARELLA, J.

This is a tax appeal from the determination by the defendant, the city of Danbury, of the fair market value of certain of the plaintiffs real property, as of October 1, 1987. The plaintiff, Union Carbide Corporation, appealed to the defendant's board of assessment appeals (board) from the valuation of its property as of October 1, 1987. The board dismissed that appeal, and the plaintiff appealed to the trial court pursuant to General Statutes § 12-117a.¹ The trial court rendered judgment dismissing the appeal, from which the plaintiff appealed to the Appellate Court. We transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (c) and Practice Book § 65-1.

The plaintiff claims, inter alia, that the trial court improperly: (1) relied on an agreement between the plaintiff and a real estate assessment firm hired by the defendant as to the value of the plaintiffs property; (2) accorded presumptive validity to the defendant's assessment; (3) relied on sale-leaseback market evidence to determine the value of the plaintiffs property; and (4) ruled on the admissibility of certain evidence. Because we conclude that the trial court properly determined that the plaintiff was estopped from seeking a reduction in the valuation of its property, it is not necessary to reach the remaining issues raised by the plaintiffs appeal. We, therefore, affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The property at issue in this case, which is located at 39 Old Ridgebury Road in Danbury, consists of a 1,308,721 square foot corporate headquarters building (building) and a 99.5 acre parcel of land on which the building is located. The building and 99.5 acre parcel are surrounded by 546 acres of undeveloped land.

The defendant conducted a revaluation of the plaintiffs property in 1987, and, on October 1, 1987, the building was valued at approximately $294,827,400 and the 99.5 acre parcel of land and a substantial portion of the undeveloped land, comprising a total of 626 acres, were valued at approximately $51,231,000, for a total valuation of approximately $346,058,400. The defendant's grand list of October 1, 1988, separated the undeveloped land from the building and the 99.5 acre parcel, and placed the value of the building and 99.5 acre parcel at $306,803,857. Pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1987) § 12-62a (b), the building and 99.5 acre parcel were assessed at a rate of 70 percent of that value, bringing the assessed value to about $214,762,700.

The defendant retained the firm of Cole, Layer and Trumbull (firm) to assist in the 1987 revaluation. Harold J. Maddocks, a senior commercial and industrial appraiser with the firm, supervised the revaluation. At the time of the revaluation, Maddocks had more than thirty years experience in the fields of assessment and appraisal, including the appraisal of facilities of large corporate headquarters.

At an October 22, 1987 meeting involving, among others, Maddocks and David Keating, the plaintiffs director of general services and manager of taxes, Maddocks and Keating agreed on a fair market value of between $350,000,000 and $355,000,000 for the building, 99.5 acre parcel and surrounding undeveloped land. Maddocks figured that his calculation would result in an annual tax savings of approximately $600,000 for the plaintiff.

Maddocks testified that, as a result of this agreement, Maddocks expressed to Keating that he would submit a figure of between $350,000,000 and $355,000,000 to the defendant for assessment purposes provided that the plaintiff understood, inter alia, that the agreed upon value would remain in effect throughout the period covered by the October 1, 1987 revaluation.

Maddocks was succeeded by Daniel Thomas in November, 1987, who issued an assessment notice to the plaintiff that allegedly set the value of the plaintiffs property higher than the value agreed upon by Maddocks and Keating at the October 22, 1987 meeting. After Keating contacted Thomas in December, 1987, about the discrepancy and informed Thomas about his prior agreement with Maddocks, Thomas agreed to reduce the value of the plaintiffs property by approximately $10,000,000 for assessment purposes.

Before considering the merits of the parties' arguments, we set forth the basic legal principles and standard of review applicable to this appeal. "[I]n Ireland v. Wethersfield, 242 Conn. 550, 698 A.2d 888 (1997), we [set forth] the legal tenets governing tax appeals brought pursuant to § 12-117a .... [T]he trial court tries the matter de novo and the ultimate question is the ascertainment of the true and actual value of the [taxpayer's] property.... At the de novo proceeding, the taxpayer bears the burden of establishing that the assessor has overassessed its property.... The trier of fact must arrive at his own conclusions as to the value of [the taxpayer's property] by weighing the opinion of the appraisers, the claims of the parties in light of all the circumstances in evidence bearing on value, and his own general knowledge of the elements going to establish value.... If the trial court finds that the taxpayer has failed to meet his burden because, for example, the court finds unpersuasive the method of valuation espoused by the taxpayer's appraiser, the trial court may render judgment for the town on that basis alone.... A taxpayer ... who fails to carry [the burden of establishing overvaluation] has no right to complain if the trial court accords controlling weight to the assessor's valuation of his property." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Torres v. Waterbury, 249 Conn. 110, 117-18, 733 A.2d 817 (1999), quoting Ireland v. Wethersfield, supra, 556-59.

An appellate court's review of a trial court's decision is circumscribed by the appropriate standard of review. "The scope of our appellate review depends upon the proper characterization of the rulings made by the trial court. To the extent that the trial court has made findings of fact, our review is limited to deciding whether such findings were clearly erroneous. When, however, the trial court draws conclusions of law, our review is plenary and we must decide whether its conclusions are legally and logically correct and find support in the facts that appear in the record." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) DeSena v. Waterbury, 249 Conn. 63, 72-73, 731 A.2d 733 (1999).

On the basis of the agreement between Keating and Maddocks, the defendant asserted, as a special defense, that the plaintiff was estopped from seeking a reduction in the October 1, 1987 valuation of the plaintiffs property. In its articulation, the trial court found the following facts regarding this special defense: "The action taken and the words spoken by the [plaintiff] are found in the meeting between Maddocks on behalf of the [defendant], and ... Keating representing [the plaintiff], on October 22, 1987. That meeting included a discussion of what Maddocks had found to that date and general data about the property freely and willingly provided by [the plaintiff]. As a result of that meeting, an agreement was reached between Maddocks and Keating [that set the fair market value of the building, 99.5 acre parcel and undeveloped land at between $350,000,000 and $355,000,000]. That agreement produced an annual tax savings of ... $600,000 ... for [the plaintiff].

"After Maddocks was discharged by [the firm] ... Thomas assumed his duties in November of 1987. He sent an assessment notice to [the plaintiff], which generated a complaint from Keating mid-December that year that the valuation set forth in [the] notice from Thomas was higher than the parties had agreed to in October of that year. Thomas, on behalf of the [defendant and] in reliance upon that agreement, reduced the [amount stated in the] assessment notice by ... $10,000,000.... [The plaintiffs] attempts to refute the claimed agreement were exposed as false when Keating was presented with a document which indeed referred to the existence of that agreement. Keating's own hand lent credence to the [defendant's] claim of such an agreement and completely and thoroughly nullified [the plaintiffs] position that there was no such contract."

The plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly determined that the defendant had established its special defense of estoppel. We disagree.

Our jurisprudence regarding the doctrine of equitable estoppel is well established. In Canfield v. Gregory, 66 Conn. 9,33 A. 536 (1895), this court stated: "The modern estoppel in pais is of equitable origin, though of equal application in courts of law. It is much more than a rule of evidence. It establishes rights: it determines remedies. An equitable estoppel does not so much shut out the truth as let in the truth, and the whole truth. Its office is not to support some strict rule of law, but to show what equity and good conscience require, under the particular circumstances of the case, irrespective of what might otherwise be the legal rights of the parties." Id., 17.

"Estoppel has its roots in equity and stems from the voluntary conduct of a party whereby [the party] is absolutely precluded, both at law and in equity, from asserting rights which might perhaps have otherwise existed ... as against another person, who has in good faith relied upon such conduct, and has been led thereby to change his position for the worse. 3 Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence (5th Ed. 1941) § 804, p. 189; 28 Am. Jur.2d, Estoppel and Waiver § 76; accord Spear-Newman, Inc. v. Modern Floors Corporation,...