January 5, 2013
Alabama Civil Court of Appeals finds that MERS Assignee has Standing to Initiate Foreclosure Proceedings
In Crum v. LaSalle Bank, 55 So.3d 266, (Ala. Civ. App. 2009), the court held that the assignee of the mortgage, LaSalle Bank had standing to initiate foreclosure proceedings. The court reasoned that MERS and the assignee were not delivered a mortgage instrument by a mortgagee solely for effecting a foreclosure and MERS was expressly acknowledged by the borrower in the mortgage instrument itself as not only having “any or all of [the lender’s] interests” in the mortgaged property, but also as having the power “to take any action required of” the lender. The mortgage instrument also expressly provided that the note and the mortgage could be sold without prior notice to the borrower, and the assignment by MERS to the assignee of the mortgage, the note, and “all moneys” due was undertaken for consideration that included a $10 payment to MERS. Therefore, MERS was authorized to perform any act on the lender’s behalf as to the property, including selling the note and the mortgage to a third party and MERS fully exercised that power in favor of the assignee for valuable consideration.
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