The Michigan Court of Appeals recently upheld the dismissal of claims against a county treasurer arising out of the County’s foreclosure of property due to tax delinquencies. Members of the Kitch firm obtained summary disposition in the trial court and successfully defended the grant of summary disposition on appeal. The Kitch appellate team, based in the Kitch Detroit office, managed the appeal, building on the work of Sean Fosmire in obtaining summary disposition.

In the case, the plaintiff alleged that the county treasurer violated constitutional due process requirements by failing to provide him with adequate notice of tax delinquency foreclosure proceedings involving real property owned by the plaintiff. The plaintiff also brought a statutory conversion claim arising out of the disposition of personal property following foreclosure of the property. After briefing the issues and presenting oral argument before Judges Karen M. Fort Hood, David H. Sawyer, and Deborah A. Servitto, the Court of Appeals, in a unanimous unpublished decision, affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary disposition. The Court held that the evidence “overwhelmingly” supported defendant’s position that plaintiff was provided adequate notice of the foreclosure proceedings, and that, when the County discovered that notices being sent to the plaintiff’s address of record were being returned as undeliverable, the County “took reasonable additional steps to find another address at which to provide plaintiff notice.” As to the plaintiff’s statutory conversion claim, the Court agreed that the claim sounded in tort and therefore the county treasurer was immune from liability under the Governmental Tort Liability Act. The opinion, Mitchell v Iron County Treasurer, Docket No. 350182 (December 22, 2020) is available here: http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/OPINIONS/FINAL/COA/20201222_C350182_50_350182.OPN.PDF

Sean Fosmire is of counsel in the firm’s Marquette office. Mr. Fosmire’s practice includes general civil litigation with emphasis on medical and legal professional liability, no-fault automobile coverage, complex litigation, insurance coverage, environmental, and title insurance defense. Other areas of practice include probate, estate planning, real estate, and general business matters.

Court of Appeals Upholds Dismissal of Claims Against County Treasurer Following Tax Foreclosure

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