COLLINS v. COLORADO STATE, 697 P.2d 1138 (Colo. 1985)

Amanda Collins, Linda Costa, John and Mabel Dunn, Mertice Schmidt, Ruth Auchenbach, Sarah J. Porter, Paul Bailey, Cecil and Esther Anderson, Victoria Gits, Barbara and Robert Fulkerson, William and Bette Eisele, Lillian Powell, Shirley Storey, Warren Petty, Stanley Hinson, Max and Frances Glaston, David and Margie Klausner, John Jaeger, Barbara Harris, Bryan Shultz, Linda French, Elizabeth Weitkamp, Richard Francis, Elaine Hulme, Bernice Weinstein, Joe Pranaitis, Barbara Austin, J.M. Darling, L. Steves, T. Gaub, Judy Ann Skaife, Julie and Frank Martin, Patricia LeGrand, Susan Murphy, David and Julia Simon, Herbert and Tillie Kirschbaum, and Sidney and Sandra Reckler, for themselves and all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The Colorado State Board of Assessment Appeals; the Board of Equalization of the City and County of Denver; Jerry Kempf, as Manager of Revenue; Mike R. Licht, as Deputy Assessor of the City and County of Denver; the City and County of Denver; the Colorado State Board of Equalization; and Mary Ann Mauer, as Property Tax Administrator, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 83SA285Supreme Court of Colorado.
Decided April 1, 1985.

Appeal from the District Court, City and County of Denver Honorable Roger Cisneros, Judge

Alan A. Armour, James H. Downey, Goldstein Armour, P.C., for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Duane Woodard, Attorney General, Charles B. Howe, Deputy Attorney General, Richard H. Forman, Solicitor General, Billy J. Shuman, Assistant Attorney General, for Defendants-Appellants, the Colorado State Board of Assessment Appeals.

Stephen H. Kaplan, Denver City Attorney, Robert F. Strenski, Assistant City Attorney, for Defendants-Appellants, the City and County of Denver, the Board of Equalization of the City and County of Denver, Jerry kempf, as Manager of Revenue, and Mike R. Licht, as Deputy Assessor of the City and County of Denver.

EN BANC

PER CURIAM

[1] The Colorado State Board of Assessment Appeals (BAA) and the City and County of Denver appeal a judgment of the Denver District Court holding that the Denver assessor improperly increased the 1981 valuation of apartments converted to condominiums in Denver. The court certified as a class all similarly situated condominium owners and ordered that they be granted a property tax refund. Because, as we concluded in Hoffman v. Colorado State Board of Assessment Appeals, 683 P.2d 783 (Colo. 1984), the statutory scheme for protesting property valuations provides a complete, adequate, and speedy remedy, the district court was without jurisdiction to grant equitable relief in the nature of a class action suit to all similarly situated condominium owners, and we reverse the judgment.

Page 1139

[2] In Hoffman, the plaintiffs protested the 1980 valuation of their Denver condominiums; here, the plaintiffs protest the 1981 valuation of their Denver condominiums, but otherwise the issues raised on appeal in these two cases are identical.[1] Counsel representing the plaintiffs in this case is the same counsel who represented the Hoffmans, the district court judge is the same one who ruled in the Hoffman case, and the district court rulings are identical. Therefore, as the plaintiffs conceded at oral argument, our decision in Hoffman controls the disposition of this case. The district court did not have jurisdiction to grant the class action relief requested.

[3] Judgment reversed.