California Supreme Court Watch

#23-135 Olympic & Georgia Partners, LLC v. County of Los Angeles, S280000. (B312862; 90 Cal.App.5th 100; Los Angeles County Superior Court; BC707591.) Petition for review after the Court of Appeal affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgment in a civil action. This case presents the following issues: (1) Is income from a hotel occupancy tax rebate an intangible asset exempt from property taxation? (2) Is a “key money” deposit that a hotel received from its management companies at the onset of their contractual relationship exempt from property taxation? (3) Were certain other hotel enterprise assets properly valued for taxation purposes?

Petition for review granted: 7/12/2023

Case fully briefed: 11/29/2023

Cause argued and submitted: 6/04/2025

Opinion filed: Affirmed in part, reversed in part: 8/28/2025

See the Court of Appeal Opinion.

See the Petition for Review.

See the Oral Argument.

See the California Supreme Court Opinion.  (Olympic & Georgia Partners, LLC v. County of Los Angeles (2025) 18 Cal.5th 739.)

“We reverse the portion of the Court of Appeal’s judgment finding that the Assessor was not permitted to consider the occupancy tax or key money payments in determining the hotel’s assessed value under the income approach. We affirm the portion of the judgment remanding the matter to the Board with directions to hold further proceedings, consistent with this opinion, regarding the valuation of Olympic’s flag and franchise, food and beverage, and workforce assets.”

Justice Groban authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Guerrero and Justices Corrigan and Jenkins concurred.

Justice Liu filed a concurring and dissenting opinion.

Justice Kruger filed a concurring and dissenting opinion, in which Justice Evans concurred.