Maine High Court Clarifies Paths for Challenging Tax Assessments

A Maine woman will get another chance to argue she shouldn’t be taxed for a property that she says she doesn’t own, after the state’s high court revived her suit Tuesday.

After harmonizing more than 200 years of precedent, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that while certain challenges must be addressed through the administrative abatement process, challenges to ownership can also be lodged in court.

But the court made clear it was making “no prognostication” about the merits of Wilhelmine’ Dennis Oakes’ suit. Even it she isn’t the true owner of the parcel in Richmond, Maine, she could still ...