Opinion ID: 145311
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Madison County's Actions

Text: Madison County has regularly assessed taxes with respect to the parcels of land in the county that were purchased by the OIN in the 1990s that are claimed to lie within the boundaries of the reservation described in the Treaty of Fort Schuyler. See Madison County, 401 F.Supp.2d at 223. Each year in which the OIN failed to pay property taxes, Madison County would initiate foreclosure proceedings against the OIN-owned parcels as part of its yearly foreclosure actions in state court. Madison County would then abandon the foreclosure proceedings against the OIN-owned parcels, in anticipation of a resolution of the taxability question in Sherrill, when it became clear that the Sherrill litigation would continue for another year. Id. Madison County initiated and then abandoned foreclosure proceedings in this manner in each year until 2003, id., when this Court effectively separated the on-going Madison County litigation from the Sherrill litigation and remanded it to the district court for further proceedings, see Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y., 337 F.3d at 171. On November 14, 2003, the county instituted a foreclosure action with respect to such OIN-owned property in New York State court. Madison County, 401 F.Supp.2d at 223. This time, however, the county did not abandon these foreclosure proceedings as it has done in previous years. A Petition and Notice of Foreclosure was mailed to the owners of property that the county was seeking foreclosure upon for non-payment of taxes, including the OIN, on December 8, 2004, and was published in December 2004 and January 2005. Id. It specified March 31, 2005, as the last day for redemption of these properties. [5] Id. The Supreme Court decided Sherrill on March 29, 2005, just two days before this final day of redemption. Id. On April 28, 2005, Madison County moved for summary judgment in the 2003 state court foreclosure action. Id. In the instant federal proceedings, however, which had been pending in the district court following this Court's remand in 2003, the district court issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the state foreclosure proceedings. See id.; Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. v. Madison County, 376 F.Supp.2d 280, 283 (N.D.N.Y.2005).