That’s Gonna Leave A Mark – On Legal History
By Mitch Berg
Never thought I”d see the day.
In one of the highlights of last week, all nine justices of the SCOTUS united across ideological lines to beat Hennepin County like a pimp beating one of his girls.
Geraldine Tyler owed a $15,000 tax debt on a one-bedroom Minneapolis condo; to pay the debt, Hennepin County sold her home for $40,000 — and kept the extra $25,000 beyond what was owed. Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the opinion of the Court that the taxpayer must “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more,” effectively ending the practice of home equity theft.
How clear-cut was Henco’s abuse? This clear-cut (emphasis added):
Justice Neil Gorsuch filed a concurring opinion, which Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined, adding that the county’s action also violates the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.
“Economic penalties imposed to deter willful noncompliance with the law are fines by any other name,” he wrote. “And the Constitution has something to say about them: They cannot be excessive.”
Any day that Henco gets clobbered is a wonderful one.
May 29th, 2023 at 12:23 pm
I don’t disagree at all that any day that Henco gets clobbered is a wonderful one.
However.
From the Daily Caller article, there’s something fishy about this:
Geraldine Tyler moved out of her one-bedroom Minneapolis condo and into an apartment in a senior community in 2010. By 2015, she had accrued a $2,300 tax debt on her condo, which compounded to $15,000 after fees, interest, and penalties, prompting Hennepin County to seize Geraldine’s property, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation.
She couldn’t sell the condo? Forgot to? Why did she continue to hold it?
May 29th, 2023 at 2:27 pm
This case does not represent an outlier for Henco or Ramsey, on the contrary this is SOP, which means there are dozens if not hundreds of taxpayers who can seek redress as victims of a patently unconstitutional government policy.
May 29th, 2023 at 2:33 pm
^ Thanks Pig for that info. I’m shaking my head with a resigned chuckle thinking about all the knuckleheads in Hennco who vote for this (and everything else). Time after time.
May 29th, 2023 at 6:13 pm
jdm
if pig is right it means Henco and Co will need to either raise taxes significantly or go back to the legislature for additional funding in coming years.
May 29th, 2023 at 7:07 pm
Mac, I’m thinking that strictly speaking, the Supreme Court didn’t actually state that HennCo and its ilk had to make it easy to get the money back.
May 29th, 2023 at 11:22 pm
jdm,
what SCOTUS did do is create a new cottage industry for lawyers; they can comb thru all previous tax forfeit sales for prospective individual clients and class action clients. Also the separate concurring opinion by Gorsuch & Jackson fires a shot across the bow of places like Henco concerning the “fines” they levy relative to the 8th amendment.
May 30th, 2023 at 7:12 am
$40k for a condo means it’s in the seriously bad areas. I wouldn’t be surprised if she couldn’t sell it. Something of the same deal where a lot of homeowners in Gary in the 1960s walked away from homes they couldn’t sell because Richard Hatcher wouldn’t let them post a real estate for sale sign.
Liberalism gets you coming and going.
May 30th, 2023 at 8:26 am
^ Reasonable assumption, but then the city/county did sell it. Perhaps 40k was a take-it-off-my-hands-please price. I know banks don’t like owning repossessed properties and will do almost anything to get rid of them (i know someone who got a repossessed house cheap and even negotiated for appliances and air); I would assume cities/counties are the same.
May 30th, 2023 at 8:32 am
jdm
tax forfeit properties are auctioned periodically usually via sealed bids. Properties without bids then are listed as available at any time.
All 87 counties do this; to begin your trip down the rabbit hole see
https://www.hennepin.us/residents/property/tax-forfeited-land
May 30th, 2023 at 9:41 am
Yeah, we all heard your racist dog whistle Mr. Bubble. Wave that sheet
May 30th, 2023 at 10:22 am
2 separate SCOTUS Decisions that were effectively 9-0 in smacking down government overreach. The EPA Decision was technically 5 in the majority, 4 concurring, and zero in the dissent, and over a decade and 2 visits to SCOTUS in coming. That’s a good week.
The cherry on top, was Schumer blasting the MAGA Court. Further proof of Berg’s Laws. Schumer doesn’t expect to be fact checked on that statement anywhere that democrats will hear.
May 30th, 2023 at 2:47 pm
JDM, it strikes me that if indeed $40k was a “take it off my hands” price, then we would assume that there will be a follow-up lawsuit as the former owner tries to recover the reasonable price of that condo. Plus legal fees, of course.
May 30th, 2023 at 5:13 pm
That was a mean comment. I feel bad.
I’d like to buy Mr. & Mrs. Bubble round trip tickets to Miami on Spirit Airlines to make it up.
They can just sit back and absorb the vibrance.