Minneapolis Suit Seeks To Halt, Void Foreclosures; MERS' Failure To Record Assignments At Issue

In Hennepin County, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

• A complaint by some borrowers that they can't learn who owns their mortgages turned into a full-blown effort to halt a substantial share of Hennepin County's foreclosures [late last month]. A Legal Aid lawsuit contends some pending and recent foreclosures don't meet requirements of state law. [...] Although Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek is named as a defendant for his office's role in selling foreclosed property, the real target is a national mortgage registry formed by lenders and known as Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS). The lawsuit contends the registry hides who really owns a mortgage, creating difficulties for borrowers or their advocates trying to negotiate with lenders.

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• A 2004 change by the Legislature was intended to make clear that the registry could legally be listed as the holder of mortgages filed in courthouses. But the registry also needs to file assignment of the mortgage to new owners, said Amber Hawkins, lead attorney for the lawsuit. [...] Besides pending foreclosures, the suit also seeks to void recent Sheriff's Office sales in which the registry has initiated foreclosure. That measure would apply if the borrower is still living in the house up to six months after foreclosure, as permitted by state law. It asks damages for those who already have lost a home in a foreclosure brought by the registry.

For more, see Lawsuit seeks to block some foreclosures (Hennepin County is swept up into an action targeting lenders).

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