Eva T. Cantarella

Eva T. Cantarella is a partner at Hertz Schram. Her primary practice areas are (i) Property Tax Appeals and (ii) Employee Benefits, with a focus on class claims for pension benefits under both the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") and governmental plans.  Ms. Cantarella is currently litigating several class claims for pension benefits, including a Class Action against the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System.

Property Tax Appeals

Ms. Cantarella has extensively practiced in the Michigan Tax Tribunal where she has successfully resolved hundreds of property tax appeals. Ms. Cantarella is a member of the Commercial Board of Realtors, CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women), the National Association of Realtors, the Michigan Association of Realtors, the Michigan Bar, the United States Tax Court, and every United States Court of Appeals, including the United States Supreme Court.

Prior to going into the law and becoming a property tax appeal attorney, Ms. Cantarella owned and operated Oakland/Macomb Appraisal Services, a real estate appraisal company that performed thousands of appraisals for banks, mortgage companies, and other financial transactions. Since 1995, Ms. Cantarella has handled all commercial and industrial property tax appeals for Hertz Schram PC, most of which have resulted in substantial reductions in the property's taxable value. Typcial exampes include the following: (i) taxable value on historic 46-story office building in downtown Detroit reduced from $7,259,000 to $4,773,500, a 34.25% reduction; (ii) taxable value on 29,750 SF office building in Bloomfield Hills, MI reduced from $1,067,690 to $335,290, a 68.60% reduction; (iii) taxable value on 325,000 SF shopping mall in Livonia, MI reduced from $8,553,320 to $4,939,320, a 42.25% reduction; (iv) taxable value on 48,780 SF strip mall in Cedar Springs, MI reduced from 975,200 to560,000, a 42.59% reduction; (v) taxable value on 72,500 SF strip mall in Haring Twp, MI reduced from $939,700 to $500,000, a 46.79% reduction; (vi) taxable value on 67,000 SF sports bar & restaurant in Shelby Twp, MI reduced from $1,736,335 to $1,138,830, a 34.41% reduction; (vii) taxable value on 5,760 SF medical office condo in Grand Blanc Twp, MI reduced from $780,600 to $555,500, a 28.84% reduction.

Pensions.

Ms. Cantarella has also been a speaker and commentator on pension issues in, and to, a variety of fora and media, including pension asset managers, pension and investment reporters, the IRS, Department of Treasury, and other governmental agencies, international consulting and accounting firms, cable television, pension interest organizations and associations, and national, state, and local employee benefit groups.

Ms. Cantarella's activities in the pension arena and comments on pension issues have been reported in/on numerous publications and websites, including www.BenefitsLink.com; www.pensionrights.org; www.TheJournalnews.com; www.CFO.com; the Wall Street Journal, IBL Class Action Reporter; Lawyers Weekly USA; Business News; Gannet News; Cincinnati Enquirer; Hartford Courant; Tax Analysts; and Michigan Benefits and Business. Not surprisingly, Ms. Cantarella is frequently solicited for comment on pension issues by our nation's legislators, employee and retiree organizations, and reporters.

In 2002, Ms. Cantarella authored A Class ACT: ERISA Pension Claims and the Class Action Mechanism, which was published in the National Lawyer's Weekly and Michigan Lawyers Weekly. In 2006, Ms. Cantarella organized over 160 law professors and attorneys around the country to advocate for amending ERISA's remedial statutes so as to better protect participants and their beneficiaries with respect to their employer-provided benefits. Today the group has grown to 330 members and is known as GEER (Group for Equitable ERISA Remedies). Ms. Cantarella is admitted to practice in all U.S. Courts of Appeals, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the U.S. Tax Court; and has been admitted to practice pro hac vice in numerous federal district courts.