HK is proud to announce that Partner David Wilkes, serving as pro bono Counsel of Record, has submitted an Amicus Curiae (“friend of the Court”) brief to the United Supreme Court in a matter urging that so-called “surplus retention” statutes are an unconstitutional violation of the Fifth Amendment guaranty of just compensation for a taking of private property and the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against excessive fines.

In the enforcement of delinquent property taxes, the New York State Real Property Tax Law allows a local government to keep any surplus money received at the auction of a property that was foreclosed for the non-payment of taxes rather than return the excess to the former homeowner. This surplus represents built-up homeowner equity and is a property right like any other.

Most states provide for the payment back to the homeowner of the surplus, just as in a bank foreclosure. The main case, Tyler v. Hennepin County, originates in Minnesota under a similar statute. David’s brief was also submitted on behalf of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.