Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
September 28, 2007 Clifford W. Taylor,
Chief Justice
129741 Michael F. Cavanagh
Elizabeth A. Weaver
Marilyn Kelly
Maura D. Corrigan
DETROIT BUILDING AUTHORITY, Robert P. Young, Jr.
Plaintiff/Cross Plaintiff- Stephen J. Markman,
Justices
Appellee,
and
CITY OF DETROIT,
Intervening Plaintiff/Counter
Plaintiff/Cross Plaintiff-
Appellant,
v C: 129741
S
COA: 253479
WAYNE COUNTY TREASURER, Wayne CC: 02-234701-CH
Defendant/Cross Defendant/
Counter Defendant-Appellee,
and
MICHIGAN FINANCIAL
INVESTMENTS, L.L.C.,
Intervening Defendant/
Cross Plaintiff/Defendant-
Appellee.
_________________________________________/
By order of March 27, 2006, the application for leave to appeal the July 5, 2005
judgment of the Court of Appeals was held in abeyance pending the decision in In re
Petition by Treasurer of Wayne County for Foreclosure (Docket No. 129341). On order
of the Court, the case having been decided on May 23, 2007, 478 Mich 1 (2007), the
application is again considered and, 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 County 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 the plaintiff Detroit Building
2
Authority, which was incorporated by the 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.
MARKMAN, J., concurs and states as follows:
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.”
I, Corbin R. Davis, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
September 28, 2007 _________________________________________
l0925 Clerk