Grandmother, 94, wins Supreme Court case over Minnesota pocketing $25k profits from sale of her home

The US Supreme Court has ruled against a local government in Minnesota after a 94-year-old woman, Geraldine Tyler, lost her home when it was sold by Hennepin County over unpaid property tax debt worth $15,000. Tyler’s $40,000 condo was seized over a $2,300 tax debt, which had risen because of extra interest and fines. The sale of the condo netted the county $25,000 in surplus value, taken from the equity of the property. The Pacific Legal Foundation took up Tyler’s case, appealing state forfeiture laws that allowed the county to keep the value of the sale and the unpaid debt.
In the unanimous decision handed down by the Supreme Court, the justices ruled that Hennepin County had violated the 5th Amendment’s prohibition on seizing private property, and reaffirmed the notion that “property rights are fundamental and don’t depend solely on state law”. Domestic property is one of the most important issues in the US legal system, and owners hold “the right of enjoyment”. Therefore, the case will now be returned to a lower court to determine the value of the equity, now confirmed to be owed to Tyler by Hennepin County.
As one of the attorneys for Ms Tyler stated, “Home equity theft is not only unjust, but unconstitutional.” Several states in the US continue to allow homeowners to be subjected to “home equity theft”, raising over $860m according to the same statement from the Pacific Legal Foundation. Thursday’s Supreme Court decision was also notable in asserting that economic penalties the state may impose are viewed as fines, and must be judged accordingly under the Constitution.



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