Andrew Meisner, Oakland County Treasurer, et al. v. Marion Sinclair

Under Michigan’s General Property Tax Act (GPTA), a local taxing authority may foreclose on a property for nonpayment of taxes after a nearly threeyear process that includes ample notice and multiple chances for the owner to pay the delinquent taxes. In Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County, 952 N.W.2d 434 (Mich. 2020), the Michigan Supreme Court held that, if the taxing authority sells tax-foreclosed property at auction for more than the taxes owed, the authority’s keeping of the surplus is a taking under the Michigan Constitution’s Takings Clause. Here, Petitioner Oakland County did not sell Respondent’s tax-foreclosed property because a municipal government exercised its statutory right to acquire the property in exchange for paying the tax delinquency. So there was no surplus. In Rafaeli, the Michigan Supreme Court determined that a taking only arises when surplus proceeds are not paid to the former owner, so the district court here appropriately dismissed. But the Sixth Circuit reversed, holding that a taking under the federal Takings Clause occurs the moment a Michigan taxing authority forecloses and takes “absolute title” to a delinquent taxpayer’s property because the authority has taken the owner’s “equitable title.” This makes Michigan’s right-of-firstrefusal-without-a-sale approach unconstitutional under federal law. The question presented is substantively the same one this Court is already considering in Tyler v. Hennepin County, No. 22-166: 1. Whether foreclosing on a home for the nonpayment of taxes constitutes a violation of the federal Takings Clause whenever the home is worth more than the tax delinquency.