MANISTEE COUNTY — The US Supreme Court decided Monday not to take up a Northern Michigan family’s lawsuit against Manistee County.
The Koetter family of Bear Lake has argued that they were shorted tens of thousands of dollars after their home was repossessed over a four thousand dollar debt in 2021.
Just months later, Manistee County sold that property at auction for more than a $100,000.
Michigan courts had largely agreed with the county and property owners who brought similar challenges in other communities — and now, the nation’s highest court has deemed the process to be constitutionally sound.
Christina Martin is an attorney representing the Koetters and three other Michigan families in similar situations.
“The bottom line is that the Supreme Court isn’t ready to hear the issue,” said Christina Martin, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation who represents the Koetters. “Doesn’t want to hear it now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hear it someday in the future,”
The court’s decision upholds Michigan’s asset forfeiture laws, which Martin says she remains concerned about.
“It’s unfortunate this is the end of the case, and what needs to happen now is Michigan’s Legislature needs to look at the law —I mean, they created this problem, and they ought to fix it,” she said.
The Manistee County Treasurer’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.
If the Supreme Court had decided to take up the challenge, hundreds of other similar instances could have been undone, potentially making millions of dollars available to property owners.
Following a case that was successfully argued before the Supreme Court in 2023, the state of Minnesota established a $109 million fund to settle cases similar to those out of Manistee.