PRIME ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT VS. TOWNSHIP OF CARNEY'S POINT
A-4994-09T4
We uphold dismissal of a tax appeal complaint for lack of jurisdiction under N.J.S.A. 54:3-21, which confers limited jurisdiction upon the Tax Court for direct review of real property assessments only after timely filing of a complaint by an aggrieved taxpayer. Under the statute, the complaint must satisfy the State Uniform Tax Procedure Law and the Court Rules, including Rule 8:3-5(a), which requires identification of the taxpayer and subject property. We find the complaint, which named as plaintiff a non-legal entity with no relation to the subject property but identified on the municipal tax list, improper, rendering taxpayer outside the prescribed statutory time limits. The relation back doctrine, Rule 4:9-3, is inapplicable because the named plaintiff is entirely unrelated to taxpayer and would thus not be a routine substitution as permitted by the Rule. 05-09-11
