Recognizing that the Shahins had not raised a claim that the City Defendants had violated either the Federal Fair Housing Act or the Delaware Fair Housing Act (DFHA) before their appeal, the Court directed the Shahins to the relevant federal and state statutes that detail the procedures for obtaining relief under those acts.Mazen v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 2016 WL 520996, at *1 (Del. Super. Ct. Jan. 22, 2016). Id.
Shahin v. City of Dover, Del. , 615 Fed. Appx. 739 (3d Cir. 2015).Mazen v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals , 2016 WL 520996 (Del. Super. Ct. Jan. 22, 2016).Id. at *4.
Mazen v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 2016 WL 520996, at *4 (Del. Super. Ct. Jan. 22, 2016), affd sub nom. Shahin v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 149 A.3d 227 (Del. 2016).
Super. Apr. 1, 2016), rev'd on other grounds , 159 A.3d at 1209 ; Shahin v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals , 2016 WL 520996, at *2 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2016), aff'd , 149 A.3d 227 (Del. 2016) (TABLE); RRHC Wilm., LLC v. New Castle Cty. Office of Finance , 2014 WL 2538886, at *8–9 (Del. Super.
In 2014, after Dover's tax assessment, a similar procedural history followed. See Mazen v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 2016 WL 520996 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2016), aff'd sub nom. Shahin v. City of Dover Bd. Of Assessment Appeals, 149 A.3d 227 (Del. 2016). On February 9, 2016, the Plaintiffs filed another complaint against Dover, again alleging housing discrimination, with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD").
See Opening Br. at *2. Compl. ¶¶ 5, 6; Mazen v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, No. CV K15A-08-004 WLW, 2016 WL 520996 (Del. Super. Ct. Jan. 22, 2016), aff'd sub nom. Shahin v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 149 A.3d 227 (Del. 2016).
Since the issue was not properly raised before the Commissioner, the Court will not address it on appeal. Furthermore, for this reason, to the extent Purnell's other arguments are based on alleged omissions from the transcript, the Court will not consider them. See, e.g., Mazen v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 2016 WL 520996, at *4 (citing Tatten Partners, L.P. v. New Castle Cty. Bd. of Assessment Review, 642 A.2d 1251, 1262 (Del. Super. Ct. 1993), aff'd sub nom. New Castle Cty. v. Tatten Partners, L.P., 647 A.2d 382 (Del. 1994)). Supplemental Recommended Findings at 4-6.
Using this reasoning, a series of decisions have rejected challenges to valuations based on 1983 values. See, e.g., Mazen v. City of Dover Bd. of Assessment Appeals, 2016 WL 520996, at *2 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2016) ; RRHC Wilmington, LLC v. New Castle Cty. Office of Finance, 2014 WL 2538886, at *8–9 (Del. Super. May 30, 2014) ; Bailey v. Bd. of Assessment Review, 2004 WL 1965867, at *5 (Del. Super. Aug. 19, 2004).The uniformity defense might not apply in a case which asserted that New Castle County is currently violating the statutory requirement to value property at its "true value in money" by continuing to use a base year of 1983.