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Page Number: 15

12 

TYLER v. HENNEPIN COUNTY 

Opinion of the Court 

D 
Finally, Minnesota law itself recognizes that in other con-
texts a property owner is entitled to the surplus in excess of 
her debt.  Under state law, a private creditor may enforce a 
judgment against a debtor by selling her real property, but 
“[n]o  more  shall  be  sold  than  is  sufficient  to  satisfy”  the 
debt, and the creditor may receive only “so much [of the pro-
ceeds]  as  will  satisfy”  the  debt.    Minn.  Stat.  §§550.20, 
550.08 (2022).  Likewise, if a bank forecloses on a home be-
cause the homeowner fails to pay the mortgage, the home-
owner is entitled to the surplus from the sale.  §580.10.

In collecting all other taxes, Minnesota protects the tax-
payer’s right to surplus.  If a taxpayer falls behind on her
income  tax  and  the  State  seizes  and  sells  her  property, 
“[a]ny  surplus  proceeds  . . .  shall  . . .  be  credited  or  re-
funded” to the owner.  §§270C.7101, 270C.7108, subd. 2.  So 
too if a taxpayer does not pay taxes on her personal prop-
erty, like a car.  §277.21, subd. 13.  Until 1935, Minnesota 
followed  the  same  rule  for  the  sale  of  real  property.    The 
State could sell only the “least quantity” of land sufficient 
to satisfy the debt, 1859 Minn. Laws p. 58, §23, and “any 
surplus  realized  from  the  sale  must  revert  to  the  owner,” 
Farnham, 32 Minn., at 11, 19 N. W., at 85. 

The  State  now  makes  an  exception  only  for  itself,  and 
only for taxes on real property.  But “property rights cannot 
be so easily manipulated.”  Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 
594 U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (slip op., at 13) (internal quotation 
marks omitted).  Minnesota may not extinguish a property 
interest that it recognizes everywhere else to avoid paying
just compensation when it is the one doing the taking.  Phil-
lips, 524 U. S., at 167. 

IV 
The County argues that Tyler has no interest in the sur-
plus  because  she  constructively  abandoned  her  home  by