Court Opinion

ID: 9845942
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:31:40.959679+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:29.655268
License: Public Domain

Judge CLARK
dissenting.
Since the majority opinion concedes that the appeal is from a judgment on the pleadings rather than summary judgment, the sole question is whether defendants were required to allege an affirmative defense under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 8(c). Defendants in their answer, responding to an averment in the complaint, “specifically denied that defendants owe any taxes to the Town of Bladenboro for the years of 1971, 1972, and 1973.” The majority takes the view that defendants were required by G.S. 105-381(a)(l), (2), and (3) (quoted in the opinion) to allege as an affirmative defense any valid defense to plaintiffs claim.
G.S. 105-381(a) and (b) provide to the taxpayer a pretrial remedy for contesting a tax claim, both before and after the tax has been paid, and action of the governing body in response thereto. Subsections (c) and (d) of the statute relate to taxpayer suits for recovery of property taxes. None of the subsections deal with standards for pleading in contested actions for tax liability.
It is my opinion that G.S. § 105-381 simply provides a remedy to taxpayers as well as procedures for pursuing the remedy. The statute was not intended to, and does not, require that a taxpayer assert all defenses as affirmative defenses in an answer to the complaint filed by a taxing unit. Nor, in fact, is a denial to an allegation of tax liability an affirmative defense. In Shuford, N.C. Civil Practice and Procedure, Sec. 8-7, at 71, the author explains: “Generally a defense which contests one of the material allegations of the complaint is not an affirmative defense, since it involves an element of plaintiff’s prima facie case.”
The trial court’s action in effect, in one fell swoop, established a lien on the property and directed that foreclosure be car*464ried out. Yet when defendants in their answer denied taxes due for 1971, 1972, and 1973, an issue was raised concerning the validity of allegations in the complaint. In my mind the dismissal of the action at this stage contravened G.S. § 105-374(j), which relates to foreclosure of tax liens, and which specifically contemplates providing for a trial where there is “an answer raising an issue requiring trial.”
Whether it is an issue “requiring trial” is another question. In this case the issue as to whether taxes were due for the years 1971, 1972, and 1973 may have been determined by summary judgment if plaintiff had properly offered supporting material for its motion. Plaintiff, however, did not serve the affidavit upon defendants. Defendants never had an opportunity to properly argue their position as to why taxes were not due in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Consequently, I have some difficulty in giving weight to plaintiff’s argument that no issue was raised by the pleadings after he moved for summary judgment rather than judgment on the pleadings.
I vote to reverse and remand for determination of the issue raised.