Sanders v. Wayne, County of, 2:23-cv-10789

Plaintiffs, Matthew and Brianne Sanders, lost six properties to tax foreclosure by Wayne County in 2018; the properties were then sold to the City of Taylor for more than the tax delinquency but less than fair market value.
The Sanders allege Wayne County unlawfully retained the surplus value (excess of property value over unpaid taxes) from these takings, rather than refunding it to them.
The Sanders sued Wayne County on April 6, 2023, alleging federal takings under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and inverse condemnation under the Michigan Constitution.
Wayne County moved to dismiss, arguing the claims are barred by the three-year statute of limitations because foreclosure judgments became final in March 2018.
The Sanders argued the limitations period was tolled by a pending class action, Bowles v. Sabree, since they were members of the putative class.
The key procedural question was whether the Sanders’ claims were tolled during the pendency of Bowles, given their properties were transferred through municipal right-of-refusal rather than public auction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether statute of limitations for § 1983 takings claim was tolled by Bowles class action	Sanders were included in Bowles’s putative class, so limitations period tolled	Sanders were not in the Bowles class because their properties weren’t sold at public auction	Tolled; Sanders covered by Bowles’s broad class definition
Whether Bowles class was limited only to auctioned properties	Sanders claim class definition included right-of-refusal properties	Wayne County insists only auctioned property owners were class members	Court found class definition was broad enough to include non-auctioned properties
Whether timing of Sanders filing affects tolling	Sanders filed after class certification denied/amended; thus, tolling applies	Comparative cases didn’t toll due to plaintiffs "jumping the gun" before certification decision	Court found Sanders did not forfeit tolling like in prior cases
Whether court should decline supplemental jurisdiction over the state claim	N/A (Sanders wanted state claim heard)	County argued dismissal of federal claim meant court should not hear state claim	Not applicable; federal claim allowed to proceed so state claim kept

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (plausibility standard for pleading)
Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (standard for motion to dismiss)
Crown, Cork & Seal Co. v. Parker, 462 U.S. 345 (statute of limitations tolled for putative class members until certification denied or class redefined)
Am. Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (commencement of class action tolls statute of limitations for putative class members)
Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland Cnty., 952 N.W.2d 434 (Michigan Supreme Court: property owners entitled to surplus proceeds from tax foreclosure sales)
Hall v. Meisner, 51 F.4th 185 (statute of limitations for takings claims runs from when county takes absolute title)