Plaza Hollister Ltd. Partnership v. County of San Benito

This is a property tax refund action brought by Plaza Hollister Limited Partnership (Plaza Hollister), a California corporation, agaiinst the County of San Benito (County). The property at issue was purchased by Plaza Hollister on December 31, 1984, and apparently was a federally subsidized apartment complex, which was operated under section 236 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. § 1715z-l). The judgment was entered pursuant to a stipulation between Plaza Hollister and the San Benito County Board of Supervisors (Board of Supervisors) on behalf of the County. Arnold Pontes, the San Benito County Assessor (Assessor), who was not a party to the judgment, appeals from the denial of his motion to vacate the judgment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 904.1, subd. (a)(2).)

The stipulated judgment reduced the base-year value of the property to $2,350,000 and ordered that value to be placed on the supplemental roll for 1984-1985 and on the regular roll for 1985-1986. It ordered the value of the property to be increased by a 2 percent inflation factor through 1990-1991 and stated that this adjustment would result in a value of $2,594,589 for 1990-1991. It ordered this revised value of…