IBM

Revenue and Taxation Code section 5140 provides that a real estate property tax refund action may be brought by the “person who paid the tax .... No other person may bring such an action; but if another should do so, judgment shall not be rendered for the plaintiff.” In this matter, the IBM Personal Pension Plan (Plan) filed suit to recover property taxes and fraud penalties paid on its behalf by the Plan’s trustee, The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. (Chase). Because we believe that the standing requirement in section 5140 means what it says, we conclude that the Plan, though the real party in interest, lacks standing to sue. Therefore we reverse that part of the judgment awarding the Plan in excess of $2.0 million and otherwise affirm.

Facts

The subject property, One Market Plaza, consists of a commercial office building parcel and a nearby parking garage parcel located in San Francisco. In 1973, the One Market Plaza Joint Venture (Joint Venture) was formed as a general partnership between The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States (Equitable), a New York corporation, and Southern Pacific Land Company (Southern Pacific), a California corporation.…