Disney win its lawsuit against the Orange Co. FL tax assessor

[CarolynFH]

https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...uit-against-orange-county-property-appraiser/
This particular lawsuit was for Y&B only - does that mean Disney automatically wins its similar lawsuits re the other WDW resorts? Or not? And are we likely looking at years of appeals by the OC tax assessor before assessments and property taxes go down?

I know there are persons with sufficient legal knowledge here to have a basis for educated guesses on these questions - I’m not asking for definitive answers!

 

[OKW Lover]

The win in the one case bodes well for all other cases in that tax year, which will probably also get tossed because Orange County used the same valuation methodology. If they also used the same methodology for other years, you can expect those to be decided in Disney's favor as well.

As to your second question about years of appeals however, the answer is likely yes. IIRC, many of these cases are from prior years and there are also new cases filed. I suspect it will be some time before Disney actually sees a tax rebate on these properties.

 

[gharter]

It seems like this is nearly a yearly activity.

 

[OKW Lover]

It seems like this is nearly a yearly activity.

It is. Every year when Disney receives its tax bill it pays its taxes and files for a rebate. Each of those years becomes a new tax case.

 

[AvidDisReader]

The interesting thing about this case is not just that Disney won, but the court went out of its way to say the method used was Illegal in the State of Florida. Not only will Disney now win all the other law suites, but every large Resort in Orlando area will also file for rebates. The County assessor is going to have a whole lot of mess he is going to have to answer for since he was the one who changed the traditional way properties were assessed prior to taking office. His next re election bid is going to be brutal.

 

[OKW Lover]

The interesting thing about this case is not just that Disney won, but the court went out of its way to say the method used was Illegal in the State of Florida. Not only will Disney now win all the other law suites, but every large Resort in Orlando area will also file for rebates. The County assessor is going to have a whole lot of mess he is going to have to answer for since he was the one who changed the traditional way properties were assessed prior to taking office. His next re election bid is going to be brutal.

Indeed. It is very likely that the ruling will be appealed considering how significant the stakes are for Orange County.

 

[CarolynFH]

Here's the Orlando Sentinel story. Apparently this was a decision by the FL Fifth District Court of Appeal. I imagine it will go higher.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/new...wLC5qHzz7lg-NniL70KFloh0pobMJA2YS06oBZERhX7E4