2 Crooked Creek LLC v. Cass County Treasurer, 159856

2 Crooked Creek, LLC (2CC) bought Cass County property, failed to pay 2011 taxes, and forfeited the property to the Cass County Treasurer in 2013. Title Check, the treasurer’s agent, mailed notices (first-class delivered; certified return “unclaimed”) and later posted a notice on a newly constructed home and published notices in a local paper.
2CC built a house on the parcel and obtained a construction mortgage from Russian Ferro Alloys, Inc. (RFA). A land examiner observed the property occupied and posted the show-cause/foreclosure notice in June 2013.
2CC did not appear at the January 15, 2014 show-cause hearing or the February 18, 2014 judicial-foreclosure hearing; the circuit court entered a judgment of foreclosure, title vested in the treasurer, and 2CC learned of the foreclosure weeks later.
2CC moved to set aside the foreclosure on due-process grounds and separately sued in the Court of Claims under MCL 211.78l(1) seeking monetary damages, alleging it had not received any notice required by the GPTA. Lower courts found notice constitutionally adequate and dismissed the damages claim.
The Michigan Supreme Court, considering only the MCL 211.78l(1) damages claim, held that “any notice” in the statute is not limited to actual notice but requires lack of constitutionally adequate notice; because 2CC had been adjudicated to have received constitutionally sufficient notice, it could not recover damages under MCL 211.78l(1).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Meaning of “any notice” in MCL 211.78l(1)	“Any notice” means actual notice; anything short of actual notice supports a damages claim.	“Any notice” includes all notice required under the GPTA, including constructive/constitutionally adequate notice.	“Any notice” is not limited to actual notice; a claimant must show notice failed to satisfy minimum due-process requirements to recover under MCL 211.78l(1).
Relationship between Perfecting Church remedy and MCL 211.78l(1) damages	Monetary damages are available even where statutory notice provisions were followed but actual notice was not received.	If notice satisfied constitutional due process, MCL 211.78l(1) does not allow damages; Perfecting Church permits setting aside judgments only when due process was violated.	Remedies are alternative: a claimant deprived of constitutionally adequate notice may either seek to set aside the foreclosure (Perfecting Church) or pursue monetary damages under MCL 211.78l(1); both require a showing of constitutional inadequacy of notice.
Whether 2CC can recover here	2CC lacked actual notice and so may recover under MCL 211.78l(1).	2CC received constitutionally sufficient notice by mailing, posting, and publication and thus cannot recover monetary damages.	2CC was adjudicated to have received constitutionally adequate notice and therefore cannot sustain a damages claim under MCL 211.78l(1).

In re Treasurer of Wayne Co for Foreclosure (Perfecting Church), 478 Mich 1 (2007) (held GPTA jurisdictional bar unconstitutional as applied to owners denied due process and explained monetary damages were the statute’s limited remedy, but due-process failures allow setting aside judgments).
Sidun v. Wayne Co Treasurer, 481 Mich 503 (2008) (explained due process requires notice reasonably calculated to apprise interested parties and that due process does not always demand actual notice).
Republic Bank v. Genesee Co Treasurer, 471 Mich 732 (2005) (interpreting MCL 211.78(2) as requiring GPTA notice to meet constitutional minimums and limiting statutory-created rights).
Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland Co, 505 Mich 429 (2020) (discussed context and purpose of the GPTA amendments and expedited foreclosure scheme).