MERS Wins Dismissal of 72 Lawsuits

[chill_wind]

MERS Wins Dismissal of 72 Lawsuits
Thom Weidlich - Oct 4, 2011

Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. won dismissal of 72 lawsuits questioning the legality of its system for allowing banks to use it to register home loans.

U.S. District Judge James A. Teilborg in Phoenix, where the cases have been centralized, dismissed the litigation in an order yesterday. Teilborg rejected the homeowners’ claims that MERS is a “sham beneficiary” and that foreclosures based on MERS documents are invalid. The decision echoed a federal appeals court ruling last month that upheld an earlier holding of his.

(snip)

“The master complaint has been dismissed and we’ll be appealing that decision,” Robert Hager, a Reno, Nevada-based lawyer for the borrowers, said in a phone interview.

Teilborg said the borrowers failed to show that MERS isn’t a beneficiary on the deed of trust, that the MERS deeds are invalid or that MERS’s assignments of the deeds were defective because it didn’t have the right to make the transfers.

more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-04/mers-wins-dismissal-of-72-lawsuits-challenging-mortgage-registry.html

[EFerrari]

1. Damn, that's just wrong. n/t

[chill_wind]

5. What will it take?

In September 2010, Teilborg rejected six proposed class actions, or group lawsuits, against the MERS system that were part of the consolidated litigation.

FWIW, Teilborg was a John Kyl recommended pick to Bill Clinton. Spent his entire pre-judicial legal career as a private practice attorney licensed in Arizona.

http://judgepedia.org/index.php/James_Teilborg

What is it- something like 50% or more of all residentially owned properties in the US are registered under MERS? It will be a brave, brave judge of influence and enormous integrity that will open the floodgates of what's happened.

It's hard to see any of this so far as anything but collusion and gatekeeping by the terrified.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. MUST . SAVE . BANK . AT . ALL . COST . . . . .

Roger, message received and understood.

[banned from Kos]

3. they should have taken the $20 billion settlement like Obama suggested

the states will kick the ball around for years and do nothing.

“The plaintiffs’ claims that focus on the operation of the MERS system ultimately fail because the plaintiffs have not shown that the alleged illegalities associated with the MERS system injured them or violated state law,” the three-judge appeals panel said.

$20 billion today for troubled states beats the hell out of confused ambitious state AG's.

[girl gone mad]

11. You're intentionally obfuscating facts, as usual.

I'm pretty sure everybody here can see right through your lies and distortions.

[banned from Kos]

12. Funny! Obfuscating? How? $20 billion today would be stimulative

Instead, these state AGs (who each want a feather in their cap) will kick the ball around for years. They are no match for these mortgage lawyers the banks will retain.

And prior rulings mean everything. This is a California ruling which is devastating to plaintiffs. CA - the hotbed of foreclosures and the score is banks- 2 plaintiffs- 0.

Obama was right - again.

[ms.smiler]

15. banned from Kos, you appear to be unfamiliar with the banking and foreclosure industries.

Trillions are owed to defrauded MBS investors and trillions are owed to defrauded and wrongfully foreclosed homeowners and billions are owed to our Recorder of Deeds offices.

There are many crimes that were committed including securities fraud, mortgage and foreclosure fraud.

Those crimes should be fully investigated and the responsible parties should be prosecuted.

I see no reason why the AG’s should slap a lousy 20 billion fine on the banks and offer immunity for crimes that have not yet even been investigated.

If you think 20 billion would be stimulative, imagine what trillions would do for our economy.

[csziggy]

4. So when are counties going to go after MERS for fees not paid

In all those transfers? Here in Florida every time a deed or mortgage is transferred a fee must be paid to the county and that transfer is supposed to be registered with the Property Appraiser and Tax Collector. According to reports, MERS never paid any of those fees, leaving counties owed for millions of dollars in transfer fees.

If the transfers are legitimate, the fees need to be paid and every transfer from one entity to another reflected in the county records.

[chill_wind]

6. Dallas County D.A.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1984378#top

[csziggy]

13. I knew I had read about the possibility - I hope at least one of these suits

Is successful! Thanks!

[chill_wind]

14. Other snippits

Herkimer County NY: MERS Docs Don't Meet Legal Requirements
Slade Smith
10/3/2011

Herkimer County New York is refusing to recognize the validity of MERS assignments and satisfactions, informing filers that the documents do not meet legal requirements for assignments and satisfactions under New York law.

Herkimer County is still recording the MERS documents. But according to letters from Herkimer County Clerk Sylvia M. Rowan sent out to filers, documents purporting to assign or satisfy MERS mortgages are now being indexed with the notation "minute"-- a catchall category indicating a generic document relating to the mortgage-- instead of being indexed with the notation "assigned" or "discharged".

http://www.sourceoftitle.com/article.aspx?uniq=6916

Essex County, Massachusetts (I don't know where this case it- it's from less than a year ago)

County Register of Deeds Picks Fight with MERS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-zombeck/county-register-of-deeds_b_789287.html

:hi:

[DURHAM D]

10. Exactly - it would lower property taxes in every county in the country. nt

[ljm2002]

7. See it's okay when the big banks get together...

...and skirt state laws about recording transfer of ownership. These laws have formed the bedrock of our real estate system for a good long time. They are time tested, and importantly, they have lots of legal precedent behind them.

Enter the big mortgage lenders and the MERS system that they created. It does not adhere to state laws, but hey, who cares? These are the Big Guys, and what the Big Guys do is A-Okay with our judicial system. The Letter Of The Law is invoked only against Little Guys. When it's a Big Guy, don't even think about trying to use the Letter Of The Law against them! That would be the Little Guys trying to get Something For Nothing! Which is something the Big Guys would Never Do! (well, except when they do, which is every day of every week of every year).

Pffft.

[banned from Kos]

8. So why would the 3-judge panel rule that no state law was broken?

Again, Obama was right. The state AG's will fuck this up completely and $20 billion is pissed away.

[chill_wind]

9. Bright Spot-- see California, Massachusetts, Delaware AG's

BofA, JPMorgan Proposed Accord Rejected by California’s Harris
By David McLaughlin
October 01, 2011


A proposed nationwide settlement with banks including Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) is being rejected by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who will pursue her own mortgage investigation in the state that had the second-highest foreclosure rate in August

(snip)

Delaware, Massachusetts

Several attorneys general, including Schneiderman, Delaware’s Beau Biden, and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, have spoken out on the issue, saying the banks shouldn’t receive releases for matters that haven’t been fully investigated, including mortgage securitization and the use of a mortgage database known as MERS.

“Ongoing investigations by attorneys general cannot be shut down by efforts to settle quickly and those responsible must be held accountable,” Danny Kanner, a spokesman for Schneiderman said after New York’s removal from the executive committee.

‘Fully Investigated’

Biden, who is investigating mortgage securitization and MERS, defended Schneiderman following his removal, saying the New York attorney general has raised “important and legitimate concerns” about the scope of the releases. Events leading up to the mortgage crisis “must be fully investigated,” Biden said at the time.

more:

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-30/california-rejects-50-state-negotiations-over-bank-foreclosures-pracitices