Thanks for visiting! Welcome to a new way to research case law. You are viewing a free summary from Descrybe.ai. For citation and good law / bad law checking, legal issue analysis, and other advanced tools, explore our Legal Research Toolkit — not free, but close.
Britton Lumber Co. v. Town of Fairlee
Citations: 138 Vt. 206; 413 A.2d 808; 1980 Vt. LEXIS 1132Docket: No. 379-79
Court: Supreme Court of Vermont; April 7, 1980; Vermont; State Supreme Court
On August 4, 1979, the Board of Civil Authority issued two sets of findings regarding a taxpayer's real and personal property appraisals, each accompanied by a “Notice to Taxpayers” indicating the right to appeal to either the Director of the Division of Property Valuation or the Superior Court. The taxpayer appealed the personal property decision to the Director and the real property decision to the Superior Court, prompting the town to move for dismissal, arguing the findings constituted a single appealable decision linked to the final grand list. The Superior Court granted the town's motion to dismiss, leading to the taxpayer's appeal. According to Section 4461(a) of Title 32, a taxpayer may appeal a decision of the Board within twenty-one days of receiving notice. The court clarified that the term “decision” should be understood in its ordinary sense, whereby distinct determinations regarding different properties qualify as separate decisions. Thus, the Board's findings regarding real and personal property were deemed two separate appealable decisions. The court ruled it was erroneous to dismiss the appeal of the real property decision on the basis that the taxpayer had also appealed the personal property decision. The court emphasized that nothing in the ruling prevents appealing multiple decisions to different tribunals. The argument against multiplicity of litigation did not apply here, as the appeals were based on different, separately appealable decisions. The court reversed the dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings.