Writ of Mandamius – Tax Assessments

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WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: Mississippi Sports and Recreation, Inc. v. Town of Wheatland

Case No.: 2015fAP2594

Officials: Kloppenburg, P.J., Lundsten and Blanchard, JJ.

Focus: Writ of Mandamius – Tax Assessments

Mississippi Sports and Recreation, Inc. filed a petition for a writ of mandamus to require the Town of Wheatland to “reconvene” board of review hearings from 2009 to 2013 to hear Mississippi Sports’s objections to its property tax assessments from those years. The Town filed a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of the mandamus action based on Mississippi Sports’s failure to comply with the statutory procedures that the Town asserted Mississippi Sports was required to follow to challenge a property tax assessment. The circuit court agreed, granted the Town’s motion for summary judgment, and dismissed the petition for mandamus. Mississippi Sports appeals. We conclude that Mississippi Sports’s petition for mandamus was properly dismissed because it is undisputed that Mississippi Sports failed to comply with statutory prerequisites to challenging the 2009-2013 property tax assessments before the board of review, and therefore, Mississippi Sports has no legal right to the relief it seeks. Accordingly, we affirm.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.