Court Opinion

ID: 9732051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:06:20.685955+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:22.796448
License: Public Domain

FLANDERS, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached, but I do so solely on the basis of the reasons given by the Court in those sections of its opinion entitled “Certification” and “Full and Fair Cash Value.” Assuming, without deciding, that the plaintiff has standing to bring her claim, I believe that G.L.1956 § 44-5-26 is the appropriate remedial mechanism to challenge alleged illegal tax assessments like the ones challenged in this case. Pursuant to § 44-5-26 (authorizing the Superior Court to grant “relief from the assessment” to any person “aggrieved on any ground whatsoever by any assessment of taxes against him or her in any city or town”), a reviewing court has the power, in a proper case, to declare an assessment illegal and award appropriate declaratory, equitable, and legal relief as the circumstances may require. Here, however, for the reasons given by the Court, I do not believe that the challenged revaluation and tax assessment certifications were illegal, notwithstanding the town’s failure to certify the revaluation and its delay in certifying the various tax assessments at issue. Thus, I concur in the Court’s decision to affirm the trial court’s judgment and deny this appeal.