Larkin Hoffman is delighted to announce that Shareholder Tim Rye was selected by Minnesota Lawyer to join the “Attorneys of the Year” 2023 honorees. Tim was recognized for representing Enterprise and Avis car rental companies in what resulted in a groundbreaking ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court affirming a tax court decision requiring tax assessors to exclude the airport’s concession fees from rent-based valuations for property tax purposes.

The case offers an opportunity to lower taxes at many of the nation’s transportation hubs and underscores the importance for all taxpayers to exclude business value from taxable property value.  Tim explained to Minnesota Lawyer that “the ruling has already had an impact in several other states and Canada, where vendors have challenged tax assessors’ practice of including airport concession fees in property tax valuations.” 

In the article “2023 Attorneys of the Year: Timothy Rye,” Minnesota Lawyer spoke to Tim about the significant win “the well thought-out decision indicates that we can take pride in the fact that the Minnesota courts are striving to really understand complicated issues like this. It gives our clients hope that when we bring a complicated case before the courts, we have a good chance of it being really well understood,” said Tim.

More details about the groundbreaking case can be found here: Airport Concession Fees Are Not Rent in Property Taxation.

Tim Rye is a litigator who advises clients on real estate valuation and property tax appeals. He advises on all aspects of the property tax appeal process, including: reviewing properties for potential success on appeal, filing appeals and all statutory disclosures, researching market data, preparing analyses for negotiations, negotiating resolutions, and litigating appeals if necessary. Tim represents a broad range of clients, including real estate investors, owners, developers, property and asset managers, corporations, and individuals with real estate holdings.

The 2023 “Attorneys of the Year” honorees were recognized during an awards event on February 8, 2023 at Quincy Hall, NE in Minneapolis.