Opinion ID: 2191086
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1965 tax abatement

Text: Relative to the 1965 tax abatement, when the plaintiff's lawyer repeatedly failed to deliver up essential income and expense information, the commission on March 5, 1969, denied the petition because it had no new evidence to justify an abatement. Under RSA 76:17 in effect in 1969, the plaintiff had the right to appeal the tax commission's decision by filing a petition in superior court within three months but did not do so. Because property tax abatement is an equitable remedy utilized to correct errors in property tax levies ( Hodges v. Kensington, 102 N.H. 399, 400, 157 A.2d 649, 650 (1960)), it is subject to the equitable defense of laches. Manchester v. Auburn, 102 N.H. 325, 331, 156 A.2d 774, 780 (1959); Bretton Woods Co. v. Carroll, 84 N.H. 428, 432, 151 A. 705, 707 (1930); 72 Am. Jur. 2d State and Local Taxation § 809 (1974); 84 C.J.S. Taxation § 583 (c) (1954, Supp. 1974). When the plaintiff failed to meet the statute of limitations imposed on appeal, he barred himself from raising the issue, since it is a well-understood principle of equity that laches follows the statute of limitations. Keene v. County, 79 N.H. 198, 200, 106 A. 486, 487 (1919); Wentworth v. Wentworth, 75 N.H. 547, 550-51, 78 A. 646, 648 (1910); Bank v. Fairbank, 49 N.H. 131 (1869). Nevertheless, the plaintiff contends he should not be bound by his lawyer's actions or inactions, and therefore, to invoke laches as a hard-and-fast rule in this instance would be inequitable. See Cote v. Cote, 94 N.H. 372, 374-75, 54 A.2d 360, 361-62 (1947). We cannot agree. An attorney is the agent of the client, provided his acts are within the scope of his authority. Eida v. Stoddard, 111 N.H. 123, 276 A.2d 12 (1971). Plaintiff is, therefore, bound by the acts of his attorney, including acts of omission or neglect. Dumas v. Hartford &c. Ind. Co., 94 N.H. 484, 490-91, 56 A.2d 57, 61-62 (1947); Berman v. Griggs, 145 Me. 258, 75 A.2d 365 (1950); Lineham v. Lineham, 223 Mass. 297, 298, 111 N.E. 901 (1916). See also W. Seavey, Law of Agency § 31 (1964). Moreover, plaintiff himself waited over four years, during which he was unable to contact his attorney, before acting to assert his claims. Consequently, the plaintiff is barred from raising the issue of his 1965 abatement petition because of laches. Ives v. Sargent, 119 U.S. 652 (1887); Miller v. Barto, 247 Ill. 104, 93 N.E. 140 (1910).