Zillow Denied Pennsylvania Fee Refund for Access to Tax Data

Zillow Inc. failed to convince a Pennsylvania appeals court that a county unreasonably charged an excessive fee for property assessment information.

Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law allows agencies to charge duplication fees for making public records accessible and limits the fee to a “reasonable” charge on “comparable duplication services provided by local business entities.”

Luzerne County, Pa., didn’t err when it charged Zillow a fee based on the market value of producing a complex data set, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Anne E. Covey wrote for the unanimous court in an opinion Tuesday.

On behalf of Zillow, employee Susan Noto challenged the county’s ...