CHARLESTON — The state Supreme Court has found that Berkeley Circuit Court is without discretion on a matter involving a company and the Berkeley County Board of Assessment Appeals.
Martinsburg IRS OC LLC appealed an order of Berkeley Circuit Court on Jan. 31, 2019, that granted Berkeley County Board of Assessment Appeals' motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court in the March 23 decision.
Martinsburg IRS OC filed in Berkeley Circuit Court on Nov. 21, 2018, an appeal of the board’s decision affirming the 2018 assessment of the company’s property.
The board filed a motion to dismiss on Jan. 14, 2019, on the grounds that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal because the company had not certified and transmitted the administrative record to the circuit court within 30 days of the filing of the petition for appeal as required by West Virginia code.
The circuit court agreed that the transmittal requirement is jurisdictional and that the company’s failure to meet the requirement deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction, and it dismissed the company’s appeal by order entered on Jan. 31, 2019.
The company then appealed, claiming that the circuit court erred when it dismissed the appeal from its docket.
"The facts are undisputed, and the question before us is one of pure law," the decision states. "We, thus, apply a de novo standard of review."
The Supreme Court wrote that it agreed that the requirement for the timely transmission of the certified record is mandatory and it found that the circuit court is without discretion in the matter, so they affirmed the court's decision. The court wrote that Martinsburg IRS OC was not able to persuade the court that its analysis needed to be revisited.
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals case number: 19-0193
