MERS has no agency – New York Bankruptcy Court: in re Agard

The following is a New York Bankruptcy motion for relief from stay ruling from February 10th, 2011

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

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In re:

Case No. 810-77338-reg

FERREL L. AGARD,

Chapter 7

Debtor.

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MEMORANDUM DECISION

Before the Court is a motion (the “Motion”) seeking relief from the automatic stay

pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(d)(1) and (2), to foreclose on a secured interest in the Debtor’s real

property located in Westbury, New York (the “Property”). The movant is Select Portfolio

Servicing, Inc. (“Select Portfolio” or “Movant”), as servicer for U.S. Bank National Association,

as Trustee for First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust 2006-FF12, Mortgage Pass-Through

Certificates, Series 2006-FF12 (“U.S. Bank”). The Debtor filed limited opposition to the Motion

contesting the Movant’s standing to seek relief from stay. The Debtor argues that the only

interest U.S. Bank holds in the underlying mortgage was received by way of an assignment from

the Mortgage Electronic Registration System a/k/a MERS, as a “nominee” for the original

lender. The Debtor’s argument raises a fundamental question as to whether MERS had the legal

authority to assign a valid and enforceable interest in the subject mortgage. Because U.S. Bank’s

rights can be no greater than the rights as transferred by its assignor – MERS – the Debtor argues

that the Movant, acting on behalf of U.S. Bank, has failed to establish that it holds an

enforceable right against the Property.1 The Movant’s initial response to the Debtor’s opposition was that

MERS’s authority to assign the mortgage to U.S. Bank is derived from the mortgage itself which

allegedly grants to MERS its status as both “nominee” of the mortgagee and “mortgagee of

record.” The Movant later supplemented its papers taking the position that U.S. Bank is a

creditor with standing to seek relief from stay by virtue of a judgment of foreclosure and sale

entered in its favor by the state court prior to the filing of the bankruptcy. The Movant argues

that the judgment of foreclosure is a final adjudication as to U.S. Bank’s status as a secured

creditor and therefore the Rooker-Feldman doctrine prohibits this Court from looking behind the

judgment and questioning whether U.S. Bank has proper standing before this Court by virtue of a

valid assignment of the mortgage from MERS.
Continue reading “MERS has no agency – New York Bankruptcy Court: in re Agard”

Split: The Note and the Deed of Trust (Redux)

The Note and Mortgage are split in judicial states the same as the Note and Deed of Trust in non-judicial states.

Split: The Note and the Deed of Trust (Redux)

by Daniel Edstrom

The Note and Mortgage are split in judicial states the same as the Note and Deed of Trust in non-judicial states.

The first issue is that the note was sold in 2005 but the Deed of Trust appears to have been left behind.  For the uninitiated, if the Note and Deed of Trust are split, this causes a nullity.  A nullity means the security interest is lost and the debt becomes unsecured.  In securitization this is standard operating procedure and is one of the issues that we are left to face.  Upwards of 60,000,000 homes may be unencumbered leaving those who own the notes on these houses with no power of sale.  And more considering MERS wasn’t the only party involved in splitting the note from the security instrument.

Who owns these loans if they are unsecured?  That was the whole purpose of creating the securitization diagram in the first place.

The result?  More questions, few answers. Continue reading “Split: The Note and the Deed of Trust (Redux)”