REFinBlog

Editor: David Reiss
Brooklyn Law School

September 19, 2013

California Court of Appeals Holds That the Right to Challenge a Nominee’s Authority to Foreclose on Behalf of Note Holder Would Fundamentally Undermine the Non-Judicial Nature of the Process

By Ebube Okoli

The Fourth District California Court of Appeals in considering Gomes v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 192 Cal.App.4th 1149 (2011), affirmed the lower court’s decision upholding MERS’ ability to initiate non-judicial foreclosure actions.

The appellant argued that he was entitled to bring a lawsuit to challenge whether MERS was authorized to initiate a foreclosure action, however the California Court of Appeals rejected this argument. In rejecting the appellant’s argument, the court held that the text of the statue failed to provide a judicial action to determine whether the person initiating the foreclosure process is indeed authorized. Further, the court noted that there were no grounds for implying such an action.

The Court found that “the recognition of the right to bring a lawsuit to determine a nominee’s authorization to proceed with foreclosure on behalf of the note holder would fundamentally undermine the non-judicial nature of the process and introduce the possibility of lawsuits filed solely for the purpose of delaying valid foreclosures.”

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