Opinion ID: 2179681
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Remedy Under Section 44-5-26

Text: With respect to plaintiff's claim that her properties were illegally assessed, the trial justice found that no remedy was available for a town's late or failed certification under § 44-5-26, the statutory remedy for relief from assessment. We have addressed this issue in S.S. Kresge Co. v. Bouchard, 111 R.I. 685, 306 A.2d 179 (1973), which held that § 44-5-26 is the exclusive remedy available for relief from an alleged illegal assessment of taxes. In that case, we concluded that if the Legislature intended a remedy beyond the two-step appeal process provided in the statute, it would have so provided. More recently, in Bandoni v. State, 715 A.2d 580 (R.I.1998), we concluded that in the absence of an explicit statutory provision of a remedy in the Victim's Bill of Rights, G.L.1956 chapter 28 of title 12, or in the victims' rights amendment to the Rhode Island Constitution, article 1, section 23, the Bandonis  the plaintiffs  had no private cause of action for monetary damages after the State failed to keep them apprised of the progress of the case against the driver of a car that had seriously injured them in an accident, as was required by the statute. We stated in Bandoni that the function of prescribing remedies for rights is a legislative responsibility not a judicial task, and we held that, in view of the General Assembly's failure to enact an enforcement provision, no private cause of action for damages was intended. Id. at 594. It is our conclusion here that the Legislature did not provide a remedy to taxpayers in plaintiff's position, and, therefore, we reject plaintiff's attempt to recover on this basis.