WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 8, 2025) – NFIB filed an amicus brief in the case Michael Pung v. Isabella County, Michigan at the United States Supreme Court. The case concerns the just compensation of property owners when the government seizes and sells that property to satisfy a tax debt. NFIB joined several business groups in filing the brief, which asks the Court to provide clear direction that will ensure that property owners are justly compensated for the value of their property.

“Small business property owners deserve to be fairly compensated when the government seizes their property, even if that seizure is to compensate a debt to the government,” said Beth Milito, Vice President and Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “Home equity theft allows decades of equity to be erased over even miniscule amounts of debt. Diminishing a property’s worth to a fraction of fair market value would be devastating for any small business owner. NFIB urges the Court to reverse the appellate court’s decision and end this predatory, unjust practice.”

The business amicus brief argues four main points: 1) Court precedent, such as the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, established that the duty to pay surplus proceeds to a landowner is categorical; 2) The right to just compensation is rooted not only in Court precedent, but upon the historical principles the United States was founded on; 3) Determining when compensation is constitutionally “just” requires a weighing of equitable principles; and 4) the Court should ensure that just compensation is paid in all tax lien foreclosures.

NFIB filed the brief with The Buckeye Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Mountain States Legal, Owners’ Counsel of America, and Illinois Policy Institute.

The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.