Mission Housing Development Co. v. City & County of San Francisco

This is an appeal and cross-appeal from a judgment in an action seeking a refund of property taxes. Mission Housing Development Company et al. (hereafter Taxpayers) contend the trial court erred when it (1) refused to order the City and County of San Francisco to value their property at certain levels for certain tax years, and (2) declined to award them attorney fees. The City and County of San Francisco contends the trial court erred when it determined the amount that it must refund to Taxpayers.

We will conclude on the appeal that (1) the trial court correctly declined to order San Francisco to value Taxpayers’ property as requested, and (2) Taxpayers have not timely challenged the court’s decision to deny their request for attorney fees. On the cross-appeal, we agree the court erred when determining the amount that San Francisco must refund to Taxpayers and will reverse that portion of the judgment.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

We have dealt with this case before (see Mission Housing Development Co. v. City and County of San Francisco (1997) 59 Cal.App.4th 55 [ 69 Cal.Rptr.2d 185 ] (hereafter Mission Housing)), so only a brief statement of facts is…