Home equity theft

A brief one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Sinclair v. Meisner, No. 26-1061 (Aug. 5, 2026). This is a spin-off from a successful home equity theft takings case, where some of the property owners’ lawyers were seeking an award of attorneys fees. The lawyers sought $4.2 million, the district court reduced the award to $1.36 million, and the Sixth Circuit — after concluding “that the requested fee award here was even more egregious” than a request in a companion case — thought that even that much was too much and ordered a remand to reduce it even more.
Continue Reading CA6: Fee Request For Successful Takings Claim Went Too Far

This just in: the Supreme Court has decided Pung v. Isabella County, No. 25-95 (June 23, 2026). And the result — that “just compensation” for Tyler takings is usually measured by the surplus over the tax sale and not fair market value of the property, unless the tax sale process is unfair or skewed — isn’t the hoped-for outcome. …
Continue Reading Pung Decided – “Just” Compensation May Not Always Mean Fair Market Value: “The Fifth Amendment protects the … right to surplus proceeds from the tax sale, not compensation for the property’s fair market value.”

Here is the transcript of the oral arguments held earlier today in Pung v. Isabella County. [And before we get further, a disclosure: this case is one of ours as the above courthouse steps photo shows.]…
Continue Reading Transcript And Audio From Today’s SCOTUS Takings And Excessive Fine Arguments (Pung v. Isabella County)