MERS, Others File Responses To NY AG Charges Relating To Banksters' Dubious Foreclosure Filings

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Law Journal reports:

• MERS and several banks who were sued by New York's attorney general for allegedly initiating faulty foreclosure actions have struck back in the high-profile litigation by strongly defending their practices and discounting the office's assertions as factually and legally deficient.
  
  
• In February, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued MERS—Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems—and several major banks and mortgage servicers, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
  
  
• The action contended the defendants' use of the MERS system resulted "in the filing of improper New York foreclosure proceedings, undermined the integrity of the judicial process, created confusion and uncertainty concerning property ownership interests, and potentially created clouds of title on properties" across the state (NYLJ, Feb. 6).
  
  
• Defendants fired back on April 20, seeking dismissal of the suit and claiming that their practices—such as having MERS commence a foreclosure or using a private registry to track loan ownership rights—were not deceptive and stressed that the attorney general never pointed to a single case where an action was initiated against a homeowner who was not in default.
  

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• The case has been assigned to Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice David Schmidt and the attorney general's response is due June 22.

For more, see MERS, Banks Call A.G.'s Suit Factually, Legally Deficient.

Go here for the New York Attorney General lawsuit filed Feb. 3 describing MERS Inc. of Virginia, a digital mortgage tracking service, as "a shell company" established as a stealth mortgagee for banks, particularly JPMorgan Chase, the Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank.

Go here for MERS' Motion to Dismiss.

Go here for the Banksters' Motion to Dismiss.