MERS Has Second Court Win in Month

For the second time in just under arnmonth the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) has won a significantrncourt victory.  The company which servesrnas registration agent for major mortgage lenders is currently involved inrnmultiple lawsuits throughout the country.   It prevailed in one of these suits, a case filedrnthe U.S. Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Tuesday when Christian County Clerk, by and through itsrnCounty Clerk, Michael Kem; et al. v MERS; et al. was dismissed withrnprejudice.</p

The county clerks had sued MERS and arngroup of MERS members under provisions of the Kentucky laws regarding thernrecording of deeds. The Plaintiffs asserted, on behalf of all of the state’srnCounty Clerks that MERS had violated the statutes in order to avoid recordingrnmortgages and paying the associated fees. rn</p

The Court found that the Clerks lackedrnstanding to bring the suit.  The judgernheld that the persons intended to be protected by Kentucky’s land record systemrnwere “existing lienholders seeking to give notice of their secured status,rnprospective purchasers and creditors seeking information about prior liens, andrnowners of property seeking release of liens once debts are paid off.”</p

The Court also said that there wasrnnothing in the statute that would indicate it was designed to be enforced by arncounty clerk, saying that had “the General Assembly wanted to allow countryrnclerks to file lawsuits regarding recording fees, it certainly knew how to dornso.” </p

OnrnJanuary 24 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11^th Judicial Circuitrnhanded down a more far-reaching decision upholding MERS rights to foreclose onrna property as a nominee and to foreclose on a mortgage that had been physicallyrnseparated from the note. 

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