A class action lawsuit claims Michigan ignores due process when overseeing tax foreclosures. The Gongwer news service first reported on the lawsuit. Plaintiffs say the state does not hold impartial hearings so that people can appeal foreclosure decisions.
“Despite the Michigan Legislature's 1999 overhaul of the tax foreclosure process, the State is stuck in time and completely disregards one of the opportunities for a delinquent taxpayer to make the case that the State should not be allowed to take their property for delinquent taxes via a show cause hearing,” the lawsuit reads. “Instead, the State convenes its own non-judicial mass meetings with delinquent taxpayers in Lansing, Michigan. “
The state handles tax foreclosures for several counties. The state lists Branch, Clinton, Dickinson, Iosco, Keweenaw, Livingston, Luce, Mecosta and Shiawassee counties, and the lawsuit claims Michigan also oversees tax foreclosures in Eaton County.
The Michigan Department of Treasury declined to comment on the lawsuit and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not return a request for comment.
Meanwhile, one state lawmaker says it’s time to create more protections for people losing their homes to foreclosure.
“I’ve always thought that there’s due process problems in the entire foreclosure process,” said state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing).
Hertel plans to introduce legislation soon to create due process protections for mortgage foreclosures. He says he’ll also consider changes for tax foreclosures.
“The idea that you’d have to go to one central location that wouldn’t be local to you, that there wouldn’t be someone outside of the state actually making the decisions, and not having a real appeals process, I think that is concerning,” he said. “And when someone’s losing their most important asset – their home – I think you have to make sure that there’s as much due process as possible.”
