Tax Court: B & D Assoc., LTD. v. Township of Franklin Docket Number 6112-2017 and 6387-2018, opinion by Brennan, J.T.C.,decided October 26, 2020. For plaintiff – Lawrence S. Berger (Berger & Bornstein LLC, attorneys); for defendant – Gregory B. Pasquale (Shain Schaffer PC, attorneys)
Held: The municipality’s summary judgment motion was denied.Municipality’s summary judgment motion challenged a property owner’s standing to pursue tax appeals during a time when the property was in foreclosure and tax payments were made by the mortgagee. The Tax Court found that an owner of real property has a sufficient stake in the property’s tax assessment while it holds title to the property and therefore qualifies as an aggrieved taxpayer pursuant to N.J.S.A. 54:3-21. The court held that plaintiff had standing to appeal the 2017 and 2018 tax assessments as it held title to the property until at least August 8, 2018, which was beyond the October 1 valuation date and the April 1 filing date for those years.