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177 Colo. 39

493 P.2d 1086

Brown v. Hansen

Supreme Court of Colorado

Decided January 10, 1972

Supreme Court of Colorado · decided 1972-01-10

Relies on Northcutt v. Burton · City and County of Denver v. Athmar Park Bldg. Co. · Simmons v. Board of County Commissioners

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1972-01-10

How this case has been cited

Cited by 14 later decisions — most recently March 2014

14 state decisions

6019721980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1 Opinion by

MR. JUSTICE GROVES.

¶2 In this action the plaintiffs sought determinations that the county assessor assessed farm lands improperly; that the assessor failed to give proper notice of assessment and improperly conducted protest hearings; that the county commissioners in reviewing the action of the assessor gave improper notice of hearing, illegally conducted their hearings and failed to give sufficient notice of their decision; and that state authorities erroneously approved the assessor’s valúa *41 tion. The trial court sustained motions to dismiss the complaint. We affirm.

¶3 The plaintiffs did not seek judicial review of the acts of the assessor and the county commissioners as provided by statute. 1965 Perm. Supp., C.R.S. 1963, 137-8-6. That statute requires that, as a condition of judicial review, the appealing taxpayer pay the full amount of the taxes levied on his property. Instead, the action was brought under the Rules of Civil Procedure. This, they contend, was proper because late notices given by the assessor and county commissioners “caused a break in the taxpayers’ chain of statutory procedures for relief,” and because, unless the requested relief is granted, they will be deprived of property without due process of law.

¶4 We rule on the procedural point and do not reach the substantive allegations. We hold that the statutory remedy is adequate and exclusive. C.R.C.P. 81 provides that the Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply where there is a special statutory proceeding which sets forth remedies. Denver v. Athmar Park Co., 151 Colo. 424, 378 P.2d 638 (1963); Simmons v. Commissioners, 146 Colo. 392, 361 P.2d 769 (1961); and Northcutt v. Burton, 127 Colo. 145, 254 P.2d 1013 (1953). The failure to plead payment of taxes was fatal and justified the order of dismissal.

¶5 Judgment affirmed.

¶6 MR. CHIEF JUSTICE PRINGLE, MR. JUSTICE HODGES and MR. JUSTICE LEE concur.

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