Opinion
Nos. 129741, 129743, 129745.
September 28, 2007.
SC: 129741, COA: 253479, Wayne CC: 02-234701-CH.
Actions on Applications for Leave to Appeal from the Court of Appeals.
Summary Disposition September 28, 2007:
Pursuant to MCR 7.302(G)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and we reinstate the order of the Wayne Circuit Court setting aside the foreclosure sale and quieting title to the property in the plaintiff. The foreclosure sale of publicly owned property is prohibited. MCL 211.78g(1). Contrary to the Court of Appeals majority's conclusion, the Wayne County Treasurer had reason to know that the property was publicly owned because there is no dispute that plaintiff Detroit Building Authority, which was incorporated by intervening plaintiff city of Detroit, MCL 123.951, was the owner of record and had filed both a deed and an affidavit of property transfer notifying the county that the property was tax-exempt.
I concur in the decision to reverse the Court of Appeals; however, I would do so on different grounds. It is undisputed that the city of Detroit was the taxpayer of record in the local assessor's office at the time of the foreclosure. Because the city's interest was "identifiable by reference to . . . [t]ax records in the office of the local assessor," MCL 211.78i(6)(c), the Wayne County Treasurer was required to send notice by certified mail. MCL 211.78i(2). Moreover, because the city's interest was "reasonably identifiable" under the records of the local assessor, merely posting a foreclosure notice and publishing such notice in a newspaper was not constitutionally adequate. Mennonite Bd of Missions v Adams, 462 US 791, 798-799 (1983). Accordingly, the Court of Appeals erred by concluding that the treasurer "afforded the City the required due process."