Summary Judgment Affidavit Ruled Insufficient
March 1, 2013The court affirmed a take-nothing summary judgment in favor of DCAD in a property tax dispute. The property owner challenged the appraisal value of his property as both unequal and excessive. DCAD filed a no-evidence motion for summary judgment arguing that the appraised value was neither excessive nor unequal. In responsive briefing, the owner stated that its property manager and tax representative would testify that the appraisal values do not reflect the accurate market values, and attached an affidavit from him verifying the truth of statements in the response. The trial court granted summary judgment.
On appeal, the court held that the owner’s evidence failed because an affidavit in which a party attempts to verify the truth and correctness of all “allegations and facts” in a response to a motion for summary judgment is not competent summary judgment evidence. Moreover, the response did not state what the property manager believed the market value actually was or whether he would testify that the appraisal value was excessive or unequal. Therefore, the owner did not raise a fact issue and summary judgment was proper.
