MERS Rights Upheld in Largest Foreclosure State

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An appellate judge in California last week upheld the rights of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems to the deed of trust, giving MERS the right to foreclose, according to court documents.

San Diego County Judge Steven Denton late Friday upheld an earlier finding in Gomes v. Countrywide that gave MERS the authority to initiate a non-judicial foreclosure.

“The California decision validates the MERS process and procedures that we’ve used in non-judicial states for many years,” said Karmela Lejarde, spokesperson for MERS. “This decision, combined with a variety of other recent decisions in state and federal courts, confirms the legality of MERS’ role in the mortgage and helps to provide further clarity for all parties engaged in the foreclosure process.”

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Toby’s Commentary:  California is a non-judicial foreclosure state, meaning that a foreclosure is not processed through the court system as they are in judicial foreclosure states. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state. The California ruling is at the appealate level. It will likely be taken up by the State Supreme Court. The diversity of MERS rulings from different juristictions around the country point the the difficulty of finding a solution to the huge problem.