Source: http://fl.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20180725_0008013.FL.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 12:17:03+00:00

Document:
FindACase | Sowell v. Faith Christian Family Church of Panama City Beach, Inc.
Sowell v. Faith Christian Family Church of Panama City Beach, Inc.
Faith Christian Family Church of Panama City Beach, Inc., Respondent.
Loren E. Levy of The Levy Law Firm, Tallahassee, for Petitioner.
William E. Corley, III, Panama City Beach, for Respondent.
This is a petition for writ of prohibition seeking review of the circuit court's denial of Petitioner's motion to dismiss an amended complaint challenging the denial of an ad valorem tax exemption for three pieces of property owned by the Respondent, a church, for the 2015 and 2016 tax years. For the reasons explained below, we grant the petition and order that the challenge to the 2015 and 2016 tax years be dismissed.
The Respondent, Faith Christian Family Church of Panama City Beach, Inc. ("Faith Christian"), filed suit on November 30, 2015, challenging the property appraiser's denial of an ad valorem tax exemption for the 2015 tax year and raising a civil rights claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("Section 1983"). The Section 1983 claim was later dismissed. Faith Christian filed an amended complaint on April 17, 2017, [*] challenging ad valorem denials for 2015, 2016, and 2017, and adding a claim for slander and a restated Section 1983 claim. The property appraiser filed a motion to dismiss, and the circuit court granted the motion as to counts two and three of the amended complaint (the slander and Section 1983 claims), but denied the motion as to count one (the claim for declarative and injunctive relief as to the denial of the ad valorem exemption for 2015 and 2016).
§§ 194.171(5), (6), Fla. Stat. (2016). Prohibition is an appropriate vehicle for review of the denial of a motion to dismiss which raises a claim that a trial court lost subject matter jurisdiction over a tax challenge pursuant to subsections 194.171(5) and (6). See Nikolits v. Hanna, 92 So.3d 299 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012); Higgs v. Armada Key West Ltd. Partnership, 903 So.2d 303 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005); Markham v. Hinckley, 544 So.2d 1139 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989).
As of May 11, 2017, Faith Christian had not paid the taxes due and owing on the subject property, and the taxes on those parcels became delinquent by operation of law on April 1, 2017, pursuant to section 197.333, Florida Statutes (2016). Taxes become "delinquent on April 1 following the year in which they are assessed or immediately after 60 days have expired from the mailing of the original tax notice, whichever is later." § 197.333, Fla. Stat. (2016); see also Fla. Admin. Code R. 12D-13.004(1) (2016).

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