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The Oregon lawsuit singles out Multnomah, Lane and Yamhill counties, where the plaintiffs lived, and calls on the rest of Oregon’s counties to compensate homeowners for the equity they lost after the counties foreclosed on and resold their homes.

The litigation seeks to refund to homeowners some of the money counties made off their home sales, dating back to May 25, 2017.

If the plaintiffs prevail in court, then counties across Oregon could be on the hook for repaying millions of dollars from foreclosure sales over the past several years.

Oregon currently allows counties to foreclose on and sell the homes of residents who owe unpaid taxes and keep all the money — even if the sale of the property nets more than what the delinquent taxpayer owed.

The Supreme Court in May that practice unconstitutional, whose county foreclosed on her condominium and kept all the proceeds.

The court ruled that governments cannot retain surplus proceeds from a foreclosure without giving the former property owners a way to recover those funds. Failing to do so is unconstitutionally taking private property for public use without just compensation.

In the Oregon lawsuit, the plaintiffs described the long-term ramifications they’d faced from their loss of equity.

Multnomah County Assessor Mike Vaughn declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the county doesn’t discuss pending litigation. But he said Multnomah County had already begun reviewing its own practices after the May Supreme Court decision.

“Our intent is to fully comply with the Supreme Court, even though there are some items that are not clear in what are considered ‘retained proceeds,’ “ Vaughn said.