Apple Computer, Inc. v. County of Santa Clara Assessment Appeals Board

Plaintiff Apple Computer, Inc. (Apple), claiming that it overpaid approximately $2.75 million in property taxes for the 1994 through 1996 tax years, petitioned for a writ of mandamus against defendants Santa Clara County Assessor Lawrence E. Stone (Assessor) and the County Assessment Appeals Board (Board). The trial court ordered the Assessor to complete an audit for those years and the Board to set aside its findings and conclusions determining that it had no jurisdiction over Apple’s February 1999 applications for a changed assessment. Apple appeals the order to complete the audit and the court’s refusal to order the Board to take jurisdiction over the applications and grant Apple a hearing. The Board and the Assessor cross-appealed, the Board claiming that the court erred in ordering it to set aside its findings and conclusions and the Assessor claiming that the trial court used an erroneous standard of review in ordering him to complete the audit. They claim that previous actions of the Board equalized Apple’s taxes for those years and pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code sections 469 and 1605, subdivision (e) (hereafter section 1605(e)), those years may not be…