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The Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed the Superior Court’s dismissal of a borrower’s wrongful foreclosure suit against a loan servicer earlier this month.
The plaintiff, Angelina M. Hall, claimed Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), which is owned by MERSCORP Holdings, did not have the power of sale because it was not the mortgagee and did not have the right to legally assign the mortgage on her New Bedford property.
The Appeals Court order stated, “The contention that MERS was not the mortgagee is belied by the language of the mortgage itself.” Later, it reads, “Hall’s complaint advanced no factual basis for her claim that MERS lacked the power of sale, which was explicitly conferred on it by the terms of the mortgage: ‘MERS (as nominee for lender and lender’s successors and assigns) has the right: to exercise any or all of the [the interests granted by the mortgage], including, but not limited to, the right to foreclosure and sell the property.’”
“We are pleased that the Massachusetts Appeals Court recognized that the plain language in the mortgage agreement names MERS as a valid mortgagee with power of sale with the right to assign its interest,” Janis Smith, vice president for corporate communications at MERSCORP, said in a statement. “This court relied on the language in the mortgage and ruled similarly last year.”
