A New York homeowner who sued a foreclosing bank on the grounds that it had no standing to foreclose because of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems lost his case this week.
Judge William Giacomo with the New York State Supreme Court did not find the precedential Bank of New York v. Silverberg case, a previous ruling against MERS, applicable in the BAC Home Loan Servicing v. Martinez case.
The homeowner in the Martinez case alleged BAC Home Loans had no standing to foreclose as an assignee of a MERS mortgage and as holder of the note.
Judge Giacomo distinguished the two cases saying: “Here, unlike Silverberg, MERS, as nominee for Countrywide, with authority to assign the mortgage, assigned the mortgage to plaintiff BAC Home Loans Servicing. The note was endorsed in blank by Countrywide Home Loans and delivered to the plaintiff (BAC). Plaintiff (BAC Home Loan Servicing) was in possession of both the note and mortgage at the time of the commencement of this action.”
With all of these factors in play, the court found that BAC Home Loan Servicing rightfully possessed standing to initiate the foreclosure proceedings.
kpanchuk@housingwire.com
