HUNTINGTON -- Breof Bank Midwest is suing the Cabell County Commission after it claims its contest to a real property assessment was wrongfully denied.
The defendant's assessor assessed the value if Breof Bank Midwest's property at $3 million for the 2011 tax year, according to a complaint filed March 21 in Cabell Circuit Court.
The bank claims it requested a hearing before the Cabell County Commission and when it appeared before the Commission on Feb. 15, which was sitting as the Board of Equalization and Review, it contested the assessment of the real property.
At the hearing, the bank presented the appraisal of Robert K. Withers, a real estate appraiser licensed in West Virginia, but two days after the hearing, the Commission determined the value of the property was still $3 million, according to the suit.
The bank claims in denying its contest of the value established by the Cabell County Assessor, the Commission set the value of the real property at greater than its true and actual value in contravention of the provisions of West Virginia Code.
All taxpayers are entitled to due process of law in a valuation hearing before a County Commission and due process of law requires an unbiased tribunal, according to the suit.
The bank claims the decision to deny its challenges to the value of the property, the Cabell County Commission is "unavoidably colored both by the inherent bias of the members of the Board and the imposition of an improper standard of proof."
The bank is seeking for the court to correct the assessment. It is being represented by William P. Bresnahan.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge F. Jane Hustead.
Cabell Circuit Court case number: 11-C-148
Bank sues Cabell Commission for real property assessment issues
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