Updated september 2024
Texas 1st Court of Appeals Provides an Important Reminder — the Filing Deadlines are Unforgiving
In Texas, fall is for football and escalating property tax protests. There are three different forums to escalate a Texas property tax protest that did not fall in your favor: (1) district court; (2) binding arbitration; and (3) State Office of Administrative Hearings. Each of these have unforgivably time sensitive deadlines and is highlighted by a recent case out of Texas’s 1st Court of Appeals.
In Harris Central Appraisal District v. Zheng, the property owner’s protest was denied and he decided to escalate by filing a lawsuit in district court. Section 42.21(a) of the Texas Property Tax Code establishes the time limit for this — 60 days after receiving the notice of the protest denial (known locally in Texas as a “board order”). Here, the property owner received the board order on September 5, 2020, making the lawsuit filing deadline November 4, 2020. But the property owner did not file until November 12, 2020. This is late and the district court dismissed his lawsuit.
To avoid the dismissal, the property owner attempted to argue that the intent of his pleadings must be considered in determining whether he complied with the 60-day deadline. Specifically, he intended to file the lawsuit timely but couldn’t because of extraordinary circumstances (Covid-19 and suffering a flesh wound on his left thumb). The 1st Court rejected this and recognized it as an acknowledgement that the property owner failed to file the lawsuit by the 60-day deadline and upheld the dismissal.
The takeaway from this quarterly blast is do not wait; file early if anything! The deadlines for escalating a protest that does not fall in your favor is unforgiving if missed, even by a day. This is true regardless of extraordinary circumstances, such as a global pandemic or serious injury (as shown by the above case). So, be vigilant in computing, knowing, and tracking deadlines.
To review the Opinion from Harris Cent. Appraisal Dist. v. Zheng, click the following link (or copy and paste): https://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=82de247b-32b6-4bac-bc35-d051520e00cc&coa=coa01&DT=Opinion&MediaID=4bc8c61b-83a4-4d5e-abb5-61ac4a60328e.
Lee D. Winston
Michel Gray & Rogers LLP
American Property Tax Counsel (APTC)
