California Court of Appeal

In this tax refund action involving supplemental assessments of new construction consisting of the drilling, development, and completion of oil and gas wells and related facilities operated by plaintiff, the trial court's judgment that the assessor's cost method of valuation was incorrect and that the correct method was the income method, remanding to the Kern County Assessment Appeals Board (Board) to re-determine the value for supplemental assessment, is: 1) affirmed in part, where plaintiff does have standing to maintain this action; 2) affirmed in part, where plaintiff's assertion that certain wells are exempt from supplemental assessment fails, as the wells were not lost due to calamity or misfortune within the meaning of section 70(c) ; and 3) reversed in part, where the Board did not abuse its discretion or act contrary to law when it approved the cost method of valution, as the assessor's use of the cost method was reasonable given the practical considerations.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/28/2014
• Published 10/28/2014

Judges

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel