United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ______
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No. 20-3730 ________________________ UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ________________________ GERALDINE TYLER, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated Appellant, v. HENNEPIN COUNTY, and MARK V. CHAPIN, Auditor-Treasurer in his official capacity Appellees. _______________________________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota Honorable Patrick J. Schiltz, District Judge Case No. 20‐CV‐0889 (PJS/BRT) _______________________________ APPELLANT’S BRIEF ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED _______________________________ DAVID DEERSON CHRISTINA M. MARTIN Pacific Legal Foundation Pacific Legal Foundation 930 G Street 4440 PGA Blvd., Suite 307 Sacramento, CA 95814 Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 Telephone: (916) 419-7111 Telephone: (561) 691-5000 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Additional attorneys for Appellant on subsequent page Appellate Case: 20-3730 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/22/2021 Entry ID: 5017217 CHARLES R. WATKINS Guin, Stokes & Evans, LLC 321 S. Plymouth Ct., Ste. 1250 Chicago, IL 60604 Telephone: (312) 878-8391 [email protected] GARRETT D. BLANCHFIELD [email protected] ROBERTA A. YARD [email protected] Reinhardt Wendorf & Blanchfield 332 Minnesota Street, Suite W-1050 St. Paul, MN 55101 Telephone: (651) 287-2100 VILDAN TESKE [email protected] MARISA KATZ [email protected] Teske Katz, PLLP 222 South Ninth Street, Suite 1600 Minneapolis, MN 55402 Telephone: (612)767-0521 1 Appellate Case: 20-3730 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/22/2021 Entry ID: 5017217 SUMMARY OF THE CASE To collect $15,000 in property taxes, penalties, interest, and costs, Hennepin County took Appellant Geraldine Tyler’s Minneapolis condo and sold it for $40,000. Rather than refund the surplus proceeds to Tyler, the County kept the profits as a windfall for the public. Tyler brought several constitutional claims challenging the County’s power to take $25,000 worth of her property above and beyond the amount she owed. The district court dismissed her case for failure to state a claim. Tyler appeals the dismissal of her claims and seeks vindication of her rights under the U.S. and Minnesota Constitutions. By taking and keeping the property’s surplus value of $25,000, the County violated the federal and state takings clauses, excessive fines clauses, substantive due process, or in the alternative, is liable to return the surplus profits under the equitable theory of unjust enrichment. Oral argument will assist the Court in resolving these novel legal questions not yet developed in the circuit courts, and that have divided state supreme courts and district courts. For this reason, Appellant respectfully requests 20 minutes to state her case, for a total of 40 minutes for the argument. i Appellate Case: 20-3730 Page: 3 Date Filed: 03/22/2021 Entry ID: 5017217 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE SUMMARY OF THE CASE ....................................................................... i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ..................................................................... iv JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT ........................................................... 1 STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES ............................................................... 1 STATEMENT OF THE CASE .................................................................. 4 A. Factual Background ........................................................................... 4 B. Procedural Background ..................................................................... 6 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ................................................................... 8 STANDARD OF REVIEW....................................................................... 11 ARGUMENT ........................................................................................... 11 I. THE COUNTY EFFECTED AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL TAKING WHEN IT TOOK A WINDFALL OF TYLER’S EQUITY INTEREST ............................................................... 11 A. Tyler has a deeply rooted property right in home equity .................................................................... 12 1. American common law recognizes the property right ....................................................................... 12 2. Minnesota recognizes the property right in home equity ..................................................................... 17 B. The County violated the federal and state takings clauses by taking and keeping Tyler’s home equity ..... 20 C. The government may not regulate away traditional property rights ............................................................... 27 D. Nelson does not address the need for just compensation here ................................................................................. 31 II. THE COUNTY VIOLATED THE EXCESSIVE FINES CLAUSES BY TAKING TYLER’S EQUITY .......................... 33 1. Taking more than a party owes in taxes, penalties, interest, and costs is punitive. ............................. 35 ii Appellate Case: 20-3730 Page: 4 Date Filed: 03/22/2021 Entry ID: 5017217 2. Taking Tyler’s equity is excessive ......................... 40 III. ALTERNATIVELY, THE COUNTY VIOLATED SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS OR IS LIABLE FOR UNJUST ENRICHMENT ....................................................... 44 A. Substantive due process ................................................ 44 B. Unjust enrichment ......................................................... 50 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 51 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ........................................................ 54 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ................................................................. 55 iii Appellate Case: 20-3730 Page: 5 Date Filed: 03/22/2021 Entry ID: 5017217 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page(s) Cases Anderson v. DeLisle, 352 N.W.2d 794 (Minn. App. 1984) .......................................... 3, 50, 51 Armstrong v. United States, 364 U.S. 40 (1960) ....................................................................... passim Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) ............................................................................. 11 Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 (1993) ......................................................................... 9, 35 Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U.S. 20 (1922) ................................. 35 Batsell v. Batsell, 410 N.W.2d 14 (Minn. Ct. App. 1987) ................................................ 20 Bennett v. Hunter, 76 U.S. 326 (1869) ....................................................................... passim Bogie v. Town of Barnet, 270 A.2d 898 (Vt. 1970) ...................................................... 9, 21, 48, 49 Brown v. Legal Found. of Washington, 538 U.S. 216 (2003) ............................................................................. 25 Browning-Ferris Indus. of Vermont, Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U.S. 257 (1989) ....................................................................... 34, 35 Burnquist v. Flach, 6 N.W.2d 805 (Minn. 1942) ........................................................... 18, 19 City of Anchorage v. Thomas, 624 P.2d 271 (Alaska 1981) ................................................................ 23 iv Appellate Case: 20-3730 Page: 6 Date Filed: 03/22/2021 Entry ID: 5017217 Coleman through Bunn v. District of Columbia, 70 F. Supp. 3d 58 (2014) ..................................................................... 22 Coleman through Bunn v. District of Columbia, No. 13-1456, 2016 WL 10721865 (D.D.C. June 11, 2016) .................. 22 Cone v. Forest, 126 Mass. 97 (1879) ............................................................................ 14 Cty. of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833 (1998) ............................................................................. 44 Dean v. Michigan Dep’t of Nat. Res., 247 N.W.2d 876 (Mich. 1976) ......................................................... 3, 51 DeCook v. Rochester Intern. Airport Joint Zoning Bd., 796 N.W.2d 299 (Minn. 2011) ............................................................ 24 Dep’t of Revenue of Montana v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U.S. 767 (1994) ............................................................................. 37 District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) ............................................................................. 29 Euclid v. Amber Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926) ............................................................................. 44 Farnham v. Jones, 19 N.W. 83 (Minn. 1884) ........................................................... 2, 17, 18 First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. Los Angeles Cty., 482 U.S. 304 (1987) ............................................................................. 20 Fox v. Cty. of Saginaw, No. 19-CV-11887, 2021 WL 120855 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 13, 2021) .................................................................................................... 22 Grand Teton Mountain Invs., LLC v. Beach Props., LLC, 385 S.W.3d 499 (Mo. Ct. App. 2012) ......................................... 13 v Appellate Case: 20-3730 Page: 7 Date Filed: 03/22/2021 Entry ID: 5017217 Griffin v. Mixon, 38 Miss. 424 (Miss. Err. & App. 1860) ............................... 9, 14, 21, 48 Hall v. State, 908 N.W.2d 345 (Minn. 2018) ............................................................. 24 Horne v. Dep’t of Agric., 135 S. Ct. 2419 (2015) ..................................................................