Minnesotans who lost property to tax forfeiture in the last decade or so have until June 6 to file a claim as part of a class-action settlement.
The settlement stems from a landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which could result in some former property owners reclaiming thousands of dollars in equity they lost when their home or land was sold.
The high court found that Hennepin County violated the constitutional rights of Geraldine Tyler, a Minneapolis woman in her 90s, when it sold her condo for $25,000 more than she owned in property taxes and kept the difference. The Supreme Court ruled she was entitled to keep the excess money.
Other Minnesotans who’d lost property to forfeiture filed a class-action lawsuit against Hennepin, Ramsey and other counties. Last year, state lawmakers approved $109 million to settle the claims.
“We've received thousands of claims already, and we expect that we will continue to do so until the deadline of June 6,” said Vildan Teske, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
The attorneys have been sending notices to people about the settlement, and answering calls and emails from people wondering whether it’s legitimate or a scam, Teske said.
They’ve also been tracking down former property owners who have moved several times since the forfeiture, she said. Some are deceased, so the attorneys have been trying to locate heirs who are eligible to submit a claim.
The class-action group includes more than 6,000 properties. The settlement amounts are expected to range widely, depending on the type and value of the property and the sale price — anywhere from a few thousand dollars up through $100,000 or $200,000, depending on the size of the surplus equity they had in the property, Teske said.
Still, it’s difficult to predict how much people are entitled to until all the claims have been submitted, Teske said.
“We really have no way of knowing at this point what those final numbers are going to be,” she said.
The settlement covers people who lost property in any Minnesota county to forfeiture after June 2016. In Hennepin County, the time period goes back to August 2012.
Anyone who thinks they might qualify can file a claim online. The website also has more details on who is eligible.
It takes time for the claims administrator, Kroll Settlement Administration, to sort through the claims and verify whether they’re legitimate, Teske said.
“Every settlement with online submissions is going to have some that are going to be fraudulent,” she said.
Last year, the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill creating a new process for handling forfeited properties. If counties sell a property for more than the taxes and fees owed, they must notify the prior owner so they can file a claim and collect the surplus.
It also requires counties to do a better job notifying owners that their property is in forfeiture and about tax relief programs, so they can avoid losing their home in the first place.
