MJB Motels LLC v. County of Jefferson Board of Equalization

Summary

The Colorado Supreme Court considered whether the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health orders constituted unusual conditions requiring revaluation of commercial properties for the 2020 property tax year under section 39-1-104(11)(b)(I), C.R.S. The court held that COVID-19 was not a detrimental act of nature and that the public health orders were not regulations restricting the use of land within the meaning of the statute. The court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the taxpayers’ complaint for failure to state a claim.

Holdings

1. The COVID-19 pandemic was not a detrimental act of nature or an unusual condition under section 39-1-104(11)(b)(I) because it did not resemble an overwhelming, unpreventable event caused exclusively by forces of nature and was not in or related to the taxpayers' real property.
2. The public health orders issued in response to COVID-19 were not regulations restricting the use of land under section 39-1-104(11)(b)(I) because they regulated commercial operations and improvements on the land, not the use or categorization of the land itself.
3. The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic did not constitute an unusual condition requiring mid-cycle revaluation under section 39-1-104(11)(b)(I).

Questions Presented

1. Whether the COVID-19 pandemic constituted a detrimental act of nature and therefore an unusual condition requiring mid-cycle revaluation under section 39-1-104(11)(b)(I).
2. Whether public health orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic constituted regulations restricting or increasing the use of land under section 39-1-104(11)(b)(I).
3. Whether dismissal of the taxpayers' complaint was proper where the alleged facts could not establish entitlement to revaluation as a matter of law.

Disposition

affirmed