A skillful, comprehensive, working knowledge of Administrative Law overall can be of great benefit to the law student, as well as the graduate of any law school, be it traditional brick and mortar or non-traditional.

There are many areas of law that fall into the realms of Administrative Law, and by having specialized in this comprehensive field of law, I not only have developed a nice practice, but I also have benefited personally from having developed competency in this wide practice area.

A very recent example was a matter of property tax. My 2007 property tax notice for my boat showed where my boat was appraised at $7556. The tax notice I received last Summer for 2008 showed that my boat was appraised for $9860. I could not understand how my boat could have increased in value though it was one year older.

I called the Tax Assessor's office and tried unsuccessfully to have them re-check their data and figures. If you have ever tried dealing with any tax office in the past, you know how difficult this can be. So, I filed for review, which was the next step.

The Tax Assessor's office responded, saying they reviewed the matter and were standing by their new appraisal. So, I took the next step... I filed for a hearing.   

When I filed for the hearing, I also sent a letter requesting discovery, since I was within my right to find out how they came up with the figures for the appraisal. They did not respond, accordingly. So I waited.

I finally received the Hearing Notice during the second week in January, 2008.

The hearing would be held Feb. 11-13th and the Hearing Board requested confirmation of receipt of the Notice and the scheduling of an appointment for the hearing.

I called and scheduled the appointment for February 11th, and then followed up with a formal Petition and Motion for Discovery, copying the Tax Assessor with the two documents filed.      

The Tax Assessor, apparently noticing in my Motion for Discovery that I would have automatic basis for appeal since they had not complied with my earlier discovery request, finally sent me discovery. Now I was able to plan my strategy.

At the Hearing, there was a 3-member Board of Equalization (the Administrative Law Judges for the Hearing Board) and the Tax Assessor and assistant present in a conference-style room.

The head of the Board instructed both parties regarding the rules of procedure, and then asked if I wished to present my case first or if I wished for the Tax Assessor to present her case. I allowed the Tax Assessor to go first. 

 

 

When the tax Assessor had finished her presentation, the Board asked if I wished to present my case, and I stated that my case was based on documents and questions to the Tax Assessor. They told me to proceed.

I first presented the copies of the Tax Assessor's own documents I had received in discovery, offering a copy first to the Board and then one to the Assessor.

Each time, I asked if these were documents she recognized as their documents.

Each time, I also asked her to read the year, make, and model of the boat and the outboard motor in their documents. Each time, she read, 2000 Godfrey Sweetwater SW 2221 FX XC as the boat and 2000 Johnson 40JPL Jet as the outboard motor as stated in their documents.

I then began phase 2. I began giving the Board and the Assessor the titles, insurance papers, and registration papers, asking the Assessor if she had any reason to believe that these documents were unofficial, incorrect, or tampered with. She said "no" each time. I then asked her to read, from each of these documents the year, make, and model of the boat and motor.

My documents stated I had a 2000 Godfrey Sweetwater 2221 SC boat and a 2000 Johnson 40PLS outboard. One of the Board members caught it right away and said, "hey, these are two distinct boats and motors!"

I asked the Board members to bear with me, since there was even more to come.

They agreed. In the meantime, the Assessor's assistant was frantically rifling through their valuation book. I looked at her and said, "I'm sorry, you won't find a 2221 SC in that book at all, since ABOS doesn't list that boat.

 

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Then came phase 3. I began passing out the next set of documents... a valuation by N.A.D.A. (knowing the Assessor would probably object, I pre-empted her objection by saying that I was aware that they switched over from N.A.D.A. to ABOS, but I just wanted see if N.A.D.A. did have a 2221 SC and a Johnson 40 PLS listed, and they did.

Then I asked everyone to note their valuation as being a total of $6720. Then I passed out the valuation of the same boat and motor as made by the marina, and another valuation as made by a Godfrey dealer. Both these documents valued the boat and motor at approximately $6800.    

I then handed them another document, a print-out of the ABOS valuation, valuing a 2221 Elite, with 90 hp Johnson, at $5500, and I said, "In contacting the manufacturer of my boat, I asked which would be a closer type of boat and they said the Elite would definitely be much closer in valuation to the SC. And then I asked why they would say the Elite was closer to the SC."

That was when phase 4 came about. I passed the Assessor and the Board, each, a copy of a letter sent to me by the manufacturer, stating that Godfrey has never manufactured any boat model 2221 FX XC.

I then passed around some photos to the board, which clearly showed my boat as a 2221 SC, and clearly showed that my Johnson 40 outboard was a propeller outboard and not a jet drive.

"In closing, I realize that ya'll will most likely deny it, but I have to ask for it here in case I take this matter to Superior Court before a Jury, so I can ask for it there, so I now pray that this Board will grant me injunctive relief." They denied injunctive relief, as I figured, but they also knew I was willing to take it to the next level, which would then risk the County having to pay more money.     

"In order to compromise," said the head of the Board, "would you be okay if we all agreed to valuation of your boat and motor at $7,0000 even?" I agreed. 

The Board also wrote an order for all property taxes paid for this year for the boat and motor to be refunded to me, in full.

In complying with good sportsmanship etiquette, I shook hands with the Assessor and her assistant, and then with the Board members. One of the Board members asked what I did. "I am a professor of law, specializing in teaching Administrative Law at British-American University School of Law, and I have an Administrative Law practice," I replied.

"No wonder," he said. "I have been doing this for a good many years now, and I have never seen anyone come in here so well prepared and handle himself as well as you just did." I smiled, thanked him for the kind words, and left.