505 A.2d 723
(3659)Appellate Court of Connecticut
DUPONT, C.J., BORDEN and SPALLONE, Js.
The plaintiff town of Woodbury brought an action against the defendant for payment of real property taxes allegedly owed by him for the tax years 1975 through 1983. The defendant counterclaimed challenging the validity of the assessment of taxes on the subject property. The trial court rendered judgment for the plaintiff and the defendant appealed. Held: 1. The defendant’s challenges to the facts found by the trial court were unavailing, those findings being supported by the evidence presented. 2. The defendant, in his counterclaim filed in 1984, failed properly to contest the taxability of the subject property for the tax years 1975 through 1982 since, by statute (12-119), such challenges must be filed “within one year from the date as of which the property was last evaluated for purposes of taxation”; as to the 1983 tax year, the trial court’s determination that the defendant was liable for the taxes assessed was correct.
Argued November 5, 1985 —
Decision released March 4, 1986
Action to recover unpaid real property taxes on certain property owned by the defendant, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Waterbury, where the defendant filed a cross complaint; the case was referred to Hon. Kenneth J. Zarrilli, state trial referee; judgment for the plaintiff on the complaint and on the cross complaint, from which the defendant appealed to this court. No error.
Hillard N. Einbinder, with whom, on the brief, was Arnold M. Potash, for the appellant (defendant).
James Wu, with whom, on the brief, was John C. Bullock, for the appellee (plaintiff).
SPALLONE, J.
The defendant is appealing from the judgment of the trial court rendered for the plaintiff after a court trial. The court held the defendant liable for property taxes due on a road and property
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adjacent to that road. The defendant was record owner of both the road and the adjacent property.
The defendant has raised ten claims of error. Six of the claims relate to the trial court’s findings of fact or its failure to find certain facts. Two of the claims relate to conclusions of facts based upon other facts, and the remaining two relate to the court’s ultimate conclusions that the defendant was liable for taxes assessed on what the court found to be a private roadway and the land adjacent to the roadway. A review of the record, transcript and the evidence in this case fully supports the express findings of facts and the legal conclusions drawn by the court. The record supports the court’s findings of fact and its failure to find certain other facts and precludes us from finding error as to the first six claims. Facts, when supported by the evidence, may not be called into question or retried on appeal. Meshberg v. Bridgeport City Trust Co., 1 Conn. App. 10, 14, 467 A.2d 685 (1983).
The last two claims of error, that the trial court erred in finding the defendant liable for taxes assessed on Woodlake Road since 1976 and that the trial court erred in finding the defendant liable for taxes assessed on his land adjacent to Woodlake Road, are also without merit.
The facts may be summarized as follows. The defendant developed a condominium complex, known as Woodlake, on land located in the town of Woodbury. The condominium complex consists of 400 units and is inhabited by approximately 1100 residents. The defendant conveyed the individual units but retained ownership of the road known as Woodlake Road which is approximately two miles in length. The defendant also maintained ownership in a seventy-five acre parcel abutting Woodlake Road. The plaintiff has assessed the value of the road and the adjoining seventy-five
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acres and has every year since 1975 levied real estate taxes against said property, which taxes the defendant has neglected and refused to pay.
The plaintiff brought this action, pursuant to General Statutes 12-161,[1] against the defendant, seeking to collect the unpaid taxes. The object of this statute is” `to give a simple remedy for the collection of taxes by an ordinary action and to dispense with the prolixity in pleading.’ “Town of Westport v. Bassett Corporation, 165 Conn. 410, 415, 335 A.2d 297 (1973).
We have, as indicated above, rejected the first eight claims of error as attacks on the factual finding of the trial court. We also reject the last two claims of error.
Connecticut law provides only two methods by which a taxpayer may contest his property taxes. The first and most widely used method is to appeal the assessment to the board of tax review and if the taxpayer is not satisfied he may appeal to the Superior Court under the provisions of General Statutes 12-118.[2] The second method involves a direct application to the Superior Court under the provisions of General Statutes 12-119[3] wherein the taxpayer must allege and prove
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that his property has been wrongfully assessed. It is conceded that no actions or appeals were brought by the defendant under either of these sections prior to the institution of the plaintiff’s action. We note that 12-118 and 12-119
differ in purpose. The first is an avenue providing for a review of the amount of the assessment made on taxable property, whereas the second contests the taxability of the property.
The defendant, by way of his counterclaim dated April 10, 1984, apparently has attempted to make out a claim under the provisions of 12-119. Specifically, 12-119 affords a remedy to owners of property which has been wrongfully assessed. In order for a property owner to avail himself of the remedy provided, relief must be sought “within one year from the date as of which the property was last evaluated for purposes of taxation . . . .” “General Statutes 12-119. Thus, any claim which the defendant may have asserted in his 1984 cross complaint pursuant to the provisions of 12-119 was valid only insofar as it related to taxes allegedly due for the tax year ending October 1, 1983. Because the defendant failed to contest properly the
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taxability of his property for the tax years 1975 through 1982 inclusive, the trial court was correct in holding the defendant liable for the taxes assessed those years. See Hartford v. Faith Center, Inc., 196 Conn. 487, 489-91, 493 A.2d 883
(1985); Norwich v. Lebanon, 193 Conn. 342, 346-49, 477 A.2d 115 (1984); Cooley Chevrolet Co. v. West Haven, 146 Conn. 165, 169, 148 A.2d 327 (1959); West Haven v. Aimes, 123 Conn. 543, 548-49, 196 A. 774 (1938).
Even if we assume, arguendo, that the defendant’s counterclaim properly asserted a claim pursuant to 12-119 for the tax year ending October 1, 1983, the trial court’s judgment that the defendant was liable for taxes assessed during that year was also correct. After a full trial, the court rejected the defendant’s claim that Woodlake Road had been legally dedicated to the plaintiff for public use and found that the roadway was private. These factual findings are, as we have noted, supported by the evidence.
Under the circumstances in this case, we can find nothing to support the defendant’s claims of error.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.