GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Michigan residents who went through a foreclosure in recent years could see a payout thanks to a class-action lawsuit.

The ruling comes from a federal lawsuit filed by Wayside Church against Van Buren County. Court documents say the property was seized by the county in 2014 after the church owed $16,750 in back taxes. The property was then sold at public auction months later for $206,000, with the county holding onto the profits.

The court ruled that the state’s property seizure protocol violated the Fifth Amendment, which states that private property cannot “be taken for public use without just compensation.”

In all, 43 counties have agreed to settle claims in a set time span. That group includes all of the Upper Peninsula and the western half of the Lower Peninsula, excluding Branch, Charlevoix, Clinton, Keweenaw, Luce and Mecosta counties. The properties must have been seized in one of those 43 counties and have been seized and sold between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2020.

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