City of San Francisco v. Assessment Appeals Board

This case presents the question of whether a federal reserve bank may remove to federal court a local government’s mandamus action concerning imposition of local property taxes against the bank. We conclude that a federal reserve bank has an unqualified right of removal and reverse the district court’s order of remand.

I

Property belonging to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (“the Bank”) was assessed by the San Francisco Assessor for the 1993-94 and 1994-95 tax years. The Bank appealed these assessments to the San Francisco Assessment Appeals Board.

The Board heard both appeals on the same day. The Assessor requested a continuance because the independently contracted appraiser had refused to appear, allegedly due to a dispute about payment for past work. The Board refused to grant the continuance, and ruled in favor of the Bank on both appeals.

The City and County of San Francisco (“San Francisco”) filed petitions for writs of administrative mandate to set aside the decisions and to enter decisions upholding the Assessor’s original property valuations, or to remand the case to the Board for a new hearing. San Francisco alleges that Board *1276 erred in refusing the…