Tag Archives: foreclosure

United States District Court Rules That MERS Had The Power to Assign the Deed of Trust

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The United States District Court of the Eastern District of California in deciding Coburn v. Bank of New York Mellon, N.A., 2:10-CV-03080 (2010) granted defendants’ motion to dismiss. The court also handed down the ruling that the plaintiff’s claim of deceit was without merit.

The plaintiff argued that MERS simply lacked the power to assign the deed of trust to The Bank of New York Mellon since MERS was neither the owner of the mortgage nor holder of the note. The court rejected this assertion.

The court held that MERS had the authority to assign its beneficial interest to another party. The court also held that MERS did not violate California Civil Code §1095 in assigning the deed of trust to the bank.

Just Shoot Me

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Florida Twelfth Judicial Circuit Magistrate Bailey issued a Recommended Order in HSBC Bank USA, National Association, et al. v. Marra, No. 2008 CA 000630 NC (Aug. 14, 2013) that makes you want to give up.  Not because of the judge, but  because of what she documents in what is in all likelihood a run of the mill foreclosure in Florida.

Somewhat amazingly, the defendant was unrepresented but was able to get the Court to focus on various inconsistencies in the court filings and implausible assertions made by the Plaintiff, particularly those relating to whether the plaintiff owned and held the note and mortgage as it alleged in the complaint.

It would require about as many words to summarize the opinion as are in it, so I refer you to the link above if you want to see it in all of its glory. Let me leave you with the Court’s conclusion:

After taking into consideration the above-cited information from the [Pooling and Servicing Agreement], it appears that the transfers that have been variously asserted by the Plaintiff in several Motions and/or documents attached to those Motions as conferring standing upon it could  not possibly have occurred as the Plaintiff represents. Further, the Magistrate cannot  conceive of any manner in which the Plaintiff could possibly create additional  documentation in an effort to manufacture standing in this action. (5)

Said less politely, the Plaintiff appear to have lied to the Court or at least been unbelievably negligent in preparing its papers.  The Court also had these things to say about the Plaintiff’s filings:

  • the procedural history recounted by the Plaintiff in its Motion is inaccurate. (4)
  • it is not even likely that GreenPoint was the “owner and holder” of Marra’s loan documents at the time this case was filed in 2008, as was alleged in the original Complaint. (4)

As a law professor, I teach students about the importance of procedure to the functioning and legitimacy of our system of adjudication.  Reading cases like this, replete with a factual summary of obfuscation and possibly outright lies, I wonder what the lesson is that we should take away from the foreclosure epidemic.

One lesson is that you can say anything you want in court and you are unlikely to be punished even if you are caught.  If that is the lesson we are left with, just shoot me now.

An alternative lesson is that we should severely punish those who treat the courthouse as no better than a white-collar fight cage where trained mercenaries lord it over ill-prepared amateurs, with no holds barred. If that is the one we take, lower your gun, roll up your sleeves and start thinking about what a well-functioning judicial system would look like for unrepresented parties in civil suits, such as homeowners in foreclosure and consumers facing debt collectors.

[HT April Charney]

Arizona Court Grants Summary Judgment in Favor of MERS in Show Me the Note Claim

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The Arizona court in deciding the case of Sparlin v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, CA-CV-2010-0173 (Ct. Ap. AzDiv. 2, 2011), had to consider arguments based on the theory of ‘show me the note.’ Sparlin had appealed the lower court decision to grant summary judgment to MERS. Upon reconsideration, the court affirmed the lower court decision and granted summary judgment.

In arguing their ‘show me the note’ claim, the borrowers alleged that MERS was required to actually prove that it was in possession of the original promissory note in order to execute a substitution of trustee appointing Recon-Trust as the substitute trustee and executing an assignment to BAC Home Loans Servicing. These were the documents that allowed the trustee to initiate foreclosure.

The court, in affirming the lower court’s dismissal, found that MERS, as the beneficiary on the deed of trust, had the right to enforce the security instrument. Additionally, the court found that under Arizona law, it was not required of MERS to be the note holder.

The United States District Court for the District of Arizona Reasons That the Plaintiff Agreed to Empower MERS to Foreclose

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The United States District Court for the District of Arizona, in Silvas v. GMAC Mortgage, LLC, et al., cv00265 (AZ Dist., 2009), reaffirmed MERS’ standing as the beneficiary of a deed of trust.

In the present case, the plaintiff brought a host of claims against the defendant. One such claim included conspiracy to commit fraud by making use of the MERS System. The court considered the plaintiff’s arguments, however the court rejected them. In rejecting the plaintiff‘s contentions, the court found that they were not only inaccurate, but that the claims were also insufficient to support the plaintiff’s assertions.

The court also reasoned that the plaintiff agreed to empower MERS to foreclose. In reaching this conclusion the court noted that the deed of trust designated MERS as the beneficiary, and authorized MERS to take any action to enforce the loan. One such right included the power to foreclose.

The United States District Court for the District of Arizona Finds That the Borrower Gave MERS the Ability to Take Any Action, Which the Lender Would be Able to Take

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The United States District Court for the District of Arizona, in Blau v. America’s Servicing Company, et al, No. CV-08-773 (D. Ariz., 2009), acknowledged that MERS, acting as a beneficiary, was the proper party to execute an assignment of the deed of trust.

The borrower gave MERS the ability to take any action, which the lender would be able to take. Thus, this included the ability to assign, foreclose, and even substitute the trustee. The court also found that MERS had no liability under The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) since it had not been involved in making the loan to the plaintiff.

Hawaiin Court Rejects Plaintiff’s Allegations of Fraud Against MERS and Grants Summary Judgement

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The court in Sakugawa v. MERS et al, D. Hawaii, 1:10-cv-00028 (Feb. 25, 2011) granted summary judgment in favor of MERS. Thus rejecting the plaintiff’s accusations for fraud and claims of state law violations regarding loan origination.

The court also found that MERS was not involved in the loan origination process and was not in contact with the plaintiff regarding the transaction. Thus the court found that there was no basis to find that MERS committed any fraudulent, unfair or deceptive acts regarding the loan consummation.

The Court found that MERS was the correct mortgagee under the security instrument, thus the mortgage permitted MERS to foreclose and sell the property.

Don’t Abandon Hope

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According to Dante, Hell’s entrance has a sign that reads, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”  As communities face the foreclosure crisis and see their population shrink, they need to come up with a plan to deal with this new reality. I have previously wrote about Housing Abandonment and NYC’s Response and am pretty confident that abandoning hope, and just letting the cards fall where they may is the worst path for a community to take.

I was quoted in a story in Joliet, Illinois’ Herald-Sun, Joliet Grapples with Empty Building Syndrome, that reads in part:

David Reiss, a law professor who teaches community development, property and real estate courses at Brooklyn Law School in New York, agrees. He has written about and studied empty residential spaces, but he’s also watched firsthand how New York state got aggressive about empty residential buildings in the 1980s by acquiring them and selling them to private or nonprofit developers.

“It just paid off in spades,” he said.

Reiss said demolishing empty buildings that can’t be used is better than having “derelict, hulking structures in the middle of the community,” he said. “Better to have open space than crumbling structures. You don’t want these ghosts or boogeymen to haunt a community.”

It doesn’t make sense to throw money into something that won’t pay off, he said.

“So I certainly think a community led by its mayor and city council really wants to have an intelligent plan,” he said. “It’s important to have momentum.”

The worst thing to do is to ignore the problem or not see it, he warned.

“You really need the civil leaders to believe in the community and plan for its rebirth,” he said. “If you don’t have that, you’re kind of on a life raft at sea.”