Ohio Court Nixes Conditions on Lawsuits Over Property Valuations

An Ohio law imposing conditions on third-party tax assessment challenges is unconstitutional because it discriminates between types of properties, a state appeals court ruled in a trio of opinions Tuesday.

Subjecting only certain types of properties to undervaluation complaints “blatantly treats properties differently” in violation of the Ohio Constitution’s uniformity clause, Judge David J. Leland wrote for the Ohio Court of Appeals, 10th Appellate District.

If left uncorrected, the statute would impose on ordinary Ohioans the burden of paying the taxes that commercial property owners avoid by keeping their properties undervalued, the court said, severing the provision from the state ...