Opinion ID: 2513987
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Case Law and Administrative Interpretation

Text: Judicial precedent affords the phrase a broad and loose meaning. First, in Morning Fresh Farms, Inc. v. Weld County Board of Equalization, 794 P.2d 1073, 1074 (Colo.App. 1990), the court of appeals considered whether a 40-acre parcel of an 800-acre farm, which accommodated numerous chicken houses used to produce eggs for profit, met the statutory definition of a farm. The chickens housed in the egg production facility were primarily fed feed bought from outside sources, although a small portion of the feed came from the farm operations. Id. Other than that bit of feed, the chicken operation was completely self-contained and the chickens never touched the ground. Id. The Board of Assessment Appeals concluded that the land did not fall within the definition of a farm and the court of appeals reversed that decision. Id. The court found that the statute in no way excluded self-contained portions of farmland, within which livestock were sustained without feeding off the ground itself. Id. While not using the exact statutory phrase at issue here, the court concluded that eggs, as agricultural products, emanate from the productivity of this farm's land. Id. at 1074-75; see also Del Mesa Farms v. Bd. of Equalization, 956 P.2d 661, 663 (Colo.App.1998) (citing Morning Fresh Farms to state that certain property used in egg production operation constituted agricultural equipment). This court has given credence to an administrative interpretation of a statute when the statute is subject to differing reasonable interpretations, and when the issue comes within the agency's special expertise. See Colo. State Pers. Bd. v. Dep't of Corr., 988 P.2d 1147, 1150 (Colo.1999) ([W]e will defer to the agency's construction when the statute may be given more than one reasonable interpretation and the agency has employed its expertise to select a particular interpretation.); Huddleston v. Grand County Bd. of Equalization, 913 P.2d 15, 17 (Colo.1996) (Judicial deference is appropriate when the statute before the court is subject to different reasonable interpretations and the issue comes within the administrative agency's special expertise.) Here, the Property Tax Administrator, who is charged with overseeing the state property tax valuation system, has addressed this issue in her Assessor's Reference Library manuals. She cites Morning Fresh Farms, Del Mesa Farms and two other unpublished court of appeals' opinions [1] for the proposition that: Based on the language in the above court cases, it is proper to classify parcels that produce agricultural products through `farming, ranching, animal husbandry and horticulture' as agricultural. 3 Assessors Reference Library: Land Valuation Manual at 5.16-5.17 (rev.7/01). She does not require any particular nexus to the land on which the agricultural products are being grown. The Majority has declined to follow Morning Fresh Farms and its progeny. While this court is not bound by decisions of the court of appeals or by the interpretations provided by the Property Tax Administrator, we should nonetheless be wary of overruling the sole appellate construction of a statute that has been in place for over ten years and that has been incorporated into the state-wide administrative standards without a compelling reason to do so. See Kern v. Gebhardt, 746 P.2d 1340, 1345 (Colo.1987) (following the principles of stare decisis to rely on a court of appeals decision that had been the only appellate construction of the statute for the previous ten years). The principle of reliance upon precedent, or stare decisis, promotes uniformity, certainty, and stability in the law. Id.; Smith v. Dist. Ct., 907 P.2d 611, 612 (Colo.1995). Under the stare decisis doctrine, courts should follow an established rule of law, unless clearly convinced that the rule was originally erroneous or is no longer sound because of changing conditions and that more good than harm will come from departing from precedent. People v. Blehm, 983 P.2d 779, 788 (Colo.1999). The decision in Morning Fresh Farms has been in place since 1990. Other divisions of the court have followed that decision, and no division of the court of appeals has held to the contrary. Furthermore, the Property Tax Administrator has relied on the holdings of the court of appeals, as have landowners. The court, in Morning Fresh Farms, did note that a small portion of the chicken feed was grown on the farm land; however, the court did not then tie that fact to the conclusion that the chicken operation emanate[s] from the productivity of this farm's land. Morning Fresh Farms, 794 P.2d at 1074-75. Furthermore, the cases following the reasoning of Morning Fresh Farms have not relied on a small bit of feed to hold that the agricultural products originate from the land's productivity. I am not persuaded that the greenhouses at issue here are distinguishable from the chicken operations in the Morning Fresh Farms line of cases, as in either situation the taxpayer is growing an agricultural product on the land. Further, I am not of the view that the courts of appeals' decisions are clearly erroneous, or that any conditions have changed that would warrant departure from that precedent.