Tax Assessment Question

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A friend of mine came to me with a dilemma. This is a new one to me so I figured I would ask the group. My friend had outright owned some property in Southern California and in '99 sold it to someone providing the buyer with owner financing. It was a parcel of land of about 20 acres with no structures on it. My friend put the buyer's name on the grant deed. In 2005, the buyer defaulted on the loan and in 2005 the grant deed was put back in my friend's name. The new assessed value on the property is significantly higher than it was when he purchasesd it before '99. He now pays a higher real estate tax each year because of the new assessed value of the property was which put in place in 2005. Is there a way he can have the assessed value brought back to when he had originally purchased it or is he stuck with the new assessed value?
Thanks