Rental Props. Owners Ass'n of Kent Cnty. v. Kent Cnty. Treasurer

• Decision Date: 18 December 2014
• Docket Number: Docket Nos. 314256,314318,319733.
• Citation: 308 Mich.App. 498,866 N.W.2d 817
• Parties: RENTAL PROPERTIES OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF KENT COUNTY v. KENT COUNTY TREASURER. Kent County Land Bank Authority v. 3830 G, LLC Rental Properties Owners Association of Kent County v. Kent County Treasurer.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

308 Mich.App. 498

866 N.W.2d 817

RENTAL PROPERTIES OWNERS ASSOCIATION OF KENT COUNTY

v.KENT COUNTY TREASURER.

Kent County Land Bank Authority

v.3830 G, LLC Rental Properties Owners Association of Kent County

v.Kent County Treasurer.

Docket Nos. 314256

314318

319733.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Sept. 3, 2014, at Grand Rapids.

Decided Dec. 18, 2014, at 9:00 a.m.

Cunningham Dalman, PC, Holland (by Ronald J. Vander Veen ), for Rental Properties Owners Association of Kent County, 3830 G, LLC, Rusty Richter, Affordable Housing Coalition, Charlie Curtis, Jeff Fortuna, James Kane, Daniel Hibma, Keystone Realty Group, LLC, Greg McKee, Josh Beckett, Michael Beckett, Cieria Chavez, Rosie Baker, and Sharon Hall.

Warner Norcross & Judd LLP, (by Matthew T. Nelson, Grand Rapids and Nicole L. Mazzocco ) for the Kent County Treasurer.

Daniel A. Ophoff, Kent County Corporation Counsel, for Kent County.

Miller Johnson, Grand Rapids, (by David J. Gass, Robert W. O'Brien, and Joseph J. Gavin ) for the Kent County Land Bank Authority.

Dickinson Wright, Grand Rapids, (by Scott G. Smith ) for the city of Grand Rapids.

Steinport Law PLC (by Jeff Steinport) for the Kent County Taxpayers Alliance.

Before: SHAPIRO, P.J., AND WHITBECK^* and STEPHENS, JJ.

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

In these consolidated appeals, various individuals, companies, and associations involved in property ownership, rehabilitation, and development in Kent County (the 3830 G parties)¹ seek to invalidate tax deeds executed by the Kent County Treasurer (the Treasurer) to Kent County (the County) and the city of Grand Rapids (the City) and from the County and the City to the Kent County Land Bank Authority (the KCLBA), claiming that their actions deprived the 3830 G parties of the opportunity to purchase the properties. The appealed orders were all decided by the same circuit court judge on different dates.

In Docket No. 314256, the 3830 G parties appeal as of right the December 20, 2012 trial court order granting summary disposition in favor of appellees. We affirm.

In Docket No. 314318, the 3830 G parties appeal as of right the trial court's December 26, 2012 order denying their motion to set aside the quiet-title and foreclosure judgment entered in favor of petitioner, the KCLBA. We affirm.

In Docket No. 319733, the 3830 G parties appeal as of right the trial court's December 6, 2013 order granting summary disposition in favor of all appellees. We affirm.

This Court ordered the appeals consolidated.²

I. BACKGROUND

DOCKET NOS. 314256, 314318

In 2012, the Treasurer foreclosed on numerous properties in Kent County (the County properties). On June 28, 2012, and July 12, 2012, the County adopted resolutions authorizing the County to purchase county tax-foreclosed properties and sell those properties to the KCLBA, allegedly as the result of an agreement between the County, the Treasurer, and the KCLBA. The Treasurer conveyed the County properties to the KCLBA on July 18, 2012. The KCLBA filed a petition for expedited quiet-title proceedings and foreclosure of the County properties on August 29, 2012. The trial court granted the KCLBA's petition on October 19, 2012, noting that the KCLBA had complied with all notice, service, and publication requirements.

The 3830 G parties filed a complaint against the Kent County Treasurer, Kent County, and the KCLBA in the Kent Circuit Court on October 17, 2012, and filed a first amended complaint on December 6, 2012, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. They claimed that the Treasurer, the County, and the KCLBA's actions violated MCL 124.755 and deprived the 3830 G parties of an opportunity to bid on and purchase any of the County properties. The 3830 G parties also alleged that Kent County violated its own policies and breached its fiduciary and constitutional duties with respect to the purchase and resale of the County properties.

The 3830 G parties filed a motion to set aside the October 19, 2012 quiet-title and foreclosure judgment pursuant to MCR 2.603(D), MCR 2.611(A)(1)(a) and (e), or MCR 2.612(C)(1)(a), (b), and (f), to intervene in the KCLBA's quiet-title and foreclosure action, and to consolidate that action with the 3830 G parties' December 6, 2012 case. The trial court denied the 3830 G parties' motion to set aside the quiet-title and foreclosure judgment, concluding that

[the motion is] not timely because [it was] not filed prior to the October 19 Order quieting title; procedurally defective in that plaintiffs failed to submit a pleading as required by MCR 2.209(C)(2), no legitimate basis here. The Legislature created a specific statutory scheme which excludes more general remedies. And there's no violation here of due process.

The 3830 G plaintiffs were aware of the expedited quiet title and foreclosure action, at least as early as October 9. And even if the argument could be made that they lacked actual notice, the public notice provided by posting and publication satisfies due process requirements.

The County and the Treasurer filed a joint motion for summary disposition in Kent Circuit Court Docket No. 12–009669 on November 30, 2012, and the KCLBA filed a motion for summary disposition on December 10, 2012.

The trial court granted the motions for summary disposition, reasoning:

First, the Court's of the opinion that this motion should be granted. [3830 G parties] lack standing, due to both their failure to identify an actual controversy as required by [MCR] 2.605, and the Court's determination that [the 3830 G parties] do not have a special injury right or substantial interest that would be detrimentally affected in a manner different from the citizenry at large.

Next, the Court finds no actions by the County Treasurer or Kent County itself that exceeded the powers conferred by the Constitution and laws of this State.

Finally, the Court's October 19 Order quieting title in the properties bars [the 3830 G parties'] attempts to challenge that title. Summary disposition is granted ... pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(5), (7) and (8).

DOCKET NO. 319733

In 2013, the Treasurer foreclosed on numerous properties (the Grand Rapids properties) in the city of Grand Rapids as a result of the owners' failure to pay real property taxes and assessments. The properties were not redeemed from the foreclosures. On June 18, 2013, Grand Rapids entered into a development agreement with the KCLBA to acquire the Grand Rapids properties. The KCLBA placed money in escrow for the City to purchase the Grand Rapids properties from the Kent County Treasurer. The City adopted a resolution that stated that acquisition of the Grand Rapids properties constituted a public purpose under the City's policy in connection with its obligation to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of the community and that authorized their purchase from the Kent County Treasurer. The properties were thereafter conveyed by the Treasurer to the City to “fulfill the public purpose of restoring blighted properties and neighborhoods and providing housing on tax-reverted abandoned properties.” The Grand Rapids properties were thereafter sold to the KCLBA by the City for the amount paid by the City to the Kent County Treasurer for the properties, plus the cost of recording fees.

The 3830 G parties filed a complaint in the Kent Circuit Court on July 19, 2013, against the Kent County Treasurer, Grand Rapids, and the KCLBA, and a first amended complaint on September 27, 2013.

The 3830 G parties sought injunctive relief and a writ of mandamus, claiming that Kent County, the Kent County Treasurer, and the KCLBA's actions in acquiring the Grand Rapids properties violated MCL 124.755 because the City never intended to own the properties, many of the properties were not blighted, and the KCLBA paid a fraction of the value of the Grand Rapids properties. The 3830 G parties also claimed that they were denied due process because the City was merely a conduit and not a genuine purchaser of the Grand Rapids properties, depriving them of the opportunity guaranteed by the statute and the Michigan Constitution to participate in an open, reasonable, and fair bidding process on the subject properties. Finally, the 3830 G parties asserted that by disposing of the Grand Rapids properties at less than fair market value, the City breached its fiduciary duty to its residents and violated Const. 1963, art. 7, § 26, which prohibits a city or village from lending its credit to another entity.

Following a motion by the Kent County Treasurer, the City, and the KCLBA, this case was reassigned to the judge to whom the cases in Docket Nos. 314256 and 314318 were assigned. On August 23, 2013, the Treasurer, the City, and the KCLBA filed a joint motion for summary disposition on Counts I and II of the 3830 G parties' complaint and the City filed a separate motion for summary disposition on Count III of the 3830 G parties' complaint. A second joint motion for summary disposition was filed on November 15, 2013. Following a hearing on all of the motions, the trial court granted the motions for summary disposition, reasoning:

All right. The Court has viewed the briefs and heard the arguments here today, and the Court sees essentially no difference between this year's case and last year's case. The Court sees no violation of the statutes here with what the County Treasurer and the City of Grand Rapids and [the KCLBA] have done, so motion for summary disposition is granted.

This Court consolidated this appeal with the appeals in Docket Nos. 314256 and 314318 in an unpublished order of the Court of Appeals, entered February 25, 2014 (Docket Nos. 314256, 314318, and 319733).

II. STATUTORY COMPLIANCE

The trial court granted summary disposition to the Kent County Treasurer, Kent County, the city of Grand Rapids, and the Kent County Land Bank Authority³ and dismissed the 3830 G parties' amended complaint under MCR 2.116(C)(5), (7), and (8). The essence of the appellants' argument is that the process through which the KCLBA obtained title to the City...