Minnesotans eligible for $109 million settlement fund after Supreme Court ruling on unpaid property tax
Minnesotans who lost a home due to unpaid property taxes, could now be eligible to receive thousands of dollars.
Attorneys Vildan Teske and Garrett Blanchfield said it all began with 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler.
She was a Minneapolis woman who owed $15,000 in property taxes. To collect the debt, Hennepin County seized her condo, sold it for $40,000 and kept every penny. While Tyler had no problem with the county keeping what she owed in taxes, she felt the rest of that money, about $25,000, was hers.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed.
"It's not every day as a lawyer that you have a case go to the U.S. Supreme Court. It's incredibly rare," said Teske.
Tyler's win means as many as 15,000 other Minnesotans could be eligible to receive money, if they lost their home or business due to unpaid property taxes.
Depending on where you live, the forfeiture had to have happened sometime between 2012 and 2023.
"Many of these people will receive tens of thousands of dollars," said Blanchfield. "On the high end it can be over $100,000 for some folks."
The money will come through a $109 million settlement fund and people can submit a claim on this website.
Teske said making people aware of the settlement has been challenging. Many have moved several times since they lost their property and aren't easy to find.
"We are trying to do everything we can to get the word out," said Teske. "Before I submit a claim, I want to make sure this is not a scam, that this is a real thing. We tell them yes, absolutely, this is a real settlement."
Teske said there are over 6,000 properties across Minnesota that are eligible in the settlement.
Many of those impacted are elderly, and if they have passed on, their family members may be eligible.
Since the Supreme Court ruling, other states are also changing their tax forfeiture laws.
