SouthBank Legal attorneys Angela Engelsen, Stephen Judge, and Tiernan Kane recently submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Matthew Schafer v. Kent County, MSC 164975, pending before the Michigan Supreme Court. In Rafaeli LLC v Oakland County, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the Takings Clause of the Michigan Constitution enshrines the long-standing principle of Anglo-American law, dating back over 800 years to the Magna Carta, that the government may seize property to pay a tax debt only to the extent that the debt is satisfied and thus must return any surplus proceeds from a tax-foreclosure sale. This case presents the question of whether Michigan courts should apply that ruling retroactively to require the government to return surplus proceeds to property owners whose property was seized prior to the Rafaeli decision in 2020. The Michigan Supreme Court granted argument to address the retroactivity of the Rafaeli decision, which turns in part on whether that decision “established a new principle of law.” The Chamber’s amicus brief explains the long history of the rule in Rafaeli, which was also recognized by the Supreme Court