Articles

Former homeowner fights Gratiot County’s theft of home

January 04, 2019 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

In 2017, officials in Gratiot County, Michigan, seized Donald Freed’s $97,000 home to pay an overdue tax debt of $1,100. The county sold his property at auction for $42,000 and kept all of the proceeds from the sale. Shockingly Michigan’s property tax law requires this all-too-common practice. It’s a nice racket for the county, wh ...

Articles

Good news in fight to end Michigan’s tax foreclosure abuse

November 29, 2018 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

In 2011, PLF client Uri Rafaeli of Oakland County, Michigan, accidentally underpaid property taxes by $8. He paid all the following years’ taxes on time. But in 2014, after making his first tax payment for the year, he discovered that the County had foreclosed on his home to collect the $8 debt, plus about $277 … ...

Articles

PLF Asks Michigan Supreme Court to Hold Government Accountable for Theft

December 07, 2017 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

PLF filed an application asking the Michigan Supreme Court to grant review and bring justice to Uri Rafaeli—who lost an entire home to Oakland County over an $8 debt, and to Andrew Ohanessian—who lost 2.7 acres over a $6,000 debt. … ...

Articles

PLF asks Supreme Court to stop Michigan from stealing

July 13, 2017 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

When Wayside Church fell behind on its 2011 property taxes on a parcel that the church had used as a youth camp, Van Buren County took the youth camp property and sold it for $206,000 to pay the church’s $16,750 in taxes, penalties, interest, and fees. The County kept the surplus proceeds—$189,250 more than the … ...

Articles

Michigan exploiting property owners’ hardships to enrich government

February 28, 2017 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

This week, PLF filed a petition asking the full Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the takings case of Wayside Church, Henderson Hodgens, and Myron Stahl. All three lost their property to Van Buren County after they fell behind on their 2011 taxes. The County foreclosed on their properties and sold each for significantly … ...