Cain v. Custer County Board of Equalization

Summary

The Nebraska Supreme Court reviewed a Tax Equalization and Review Commission decision affirming increased 2012 taxable valuations for Donald V. Cain’s agricultural property. The court held that Cain’s due process rights were not violated by the lack of additional oral argument, but concluded that the Commission’s valuation decision was erroneous on the record. The court reversed and remanded with directions to sustain Cain’s property valuation protests for the 2012 tax year.

Holdings

1. Due process does not establish a freestanding right to oral argument in an administrative valuation proceeding. Cain's asserted right to argue how the preponderance standard applied to the existing record was not a constitutional requirement.
2. Cain waived the due process protection recognized for a successor judge or commissioner who did not hear conflicting live evidence because he did not request a new evidentiary hearing and instead asserted only a right to make legal argument.
3. The presumption that the assessor faithfully performed official duties and relied on sufficient competent evidence disappears when the taxpayer presents competent evidence to the contrary; the presumption is not evidence to be weighed after it disappears.
4. Cain proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the assessor's valuation of his irrigated grassland was grossly excessive and resulted from arbitrary or unreasonable action rather than a mere error in judgment.
5. The regulatory definition of irrigated cropland was a nonbinding guideline rather than a mandatory command because it merely aided the agency's decision and conferred no procedural benefit on Cain.

Questions Presented

1. Whether TERC violated Cain's procedural due process rights by refusing to permit additional oral argument after remand.
2. Whether Cain waived any due process right to a new evidentiary hearing before a successor TERC commissioner.
3. Whether TERC erred by affirming the assessor's 2012 valuation of Cain's irrigated grassland as irrigated cropland.
4. Whether the assessor's valuation was grossly excessive and the result of arbitrary or unreasonable action under Nebraska property-tax law.
5. Whether the presumption that the assessor acted properly disappeared after Cain presented competent contrary evidence.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded