The appellants challenged the municipal tax assessments of several bank tower properties in downtown Toronto.
The Assessment Review Board initially ruled that the phrase 'fee simple, if unencumbered' in the Assessment Act required the properties to be valued as if they were vacant.
The Divisional Court overturned this, holding that the standard of review was correctness and that the Board erred in law.
The Court of Appeal upheld the Divisional Court's interpretation, confirming that income-producing properties should be assessed using market rents and a normal vacancy rate, rather than assuming they are entirely vacant.
The appeal was allowed only to the limited extent of returning the matter to the same panel of the Board rather than a new one.
