Our Virtual Regional Compliance Conferences provide updates on the latest news in regulatory requirements, compliance enforcement, and strategies to develop effective compliance programs. Watch, listen, and ask questions from...more
They teem in a sub-microscopic world that has flourished almost since the dawn of time. They’re barely a life form of their own — stripped-down flecks of genetic material encased in protein. These particles are so minuscule...more
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the “GSEs”), working together with Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems (“MERS”), have been promoting the use of electronic mortgage notes (“eNotes”) in the residential mortgage industry. MERS,...more
In its recent opinion in Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. Walker County, the Alabama Supreme Court held Alabama Code § 35-4-50 does not impose a mandatory duty to record assignments of beneficial interests in...more
Increasingly, international bodies are calling for higher standards for gatekeepers, known in the parlance of the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) as “designated non-financial businesses and professions” (“DNFBPs”)....more
Two homeowners tried to rescind their home mortgage loan when they weren’t notified that the deed of trust had been assigned. Although this argument may have been a creative way to stave off a foreclosure, it was not...more
On July 25, 2016, Goodwin filed a certiorari-stage amicus brief on behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Consumer Mortgage Coalition, and several other mortgage industry groups. The case involves a Connecticut law that...more
Editor's Note - What Exactly Is Bitcoin? In a case featuring a sting operation beginning with meetings in a coffee shop, ice cream store and hotel lobby and ending with the sale of bitcoins to an undercover Miami Beach...more
Supreme Court Advance Release Opinions: SC19376 - MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. v. Malloy - Electronic Mortgage Recording Systems, of which currently MERS is the only real player, account for 65% of all CT residential...more
In a recently issued opinion, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a recording statute specifically targeted by the Connecticut legislature to impose higher recording fees on residential mortgage...more
States have long imposed fees for recording land records documents, and until recently they have generally done so uniformly, without regard to who the parties to the document might be. The Connecticut Supreme Court has,...more
In this multidistrict litigation, plaintiffs sought certification of two classes of Arizona property owners challenging the operation of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) in transferring the beneficial...more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) another victory against challenges to MERS’ authority to assign a mortgage. In Ferguson v. Bank of New York Mellon, the...more
The Nevada Supreme Court recently reversed – or at least clarified – the impact of MERS in Nevada under the approach set forth in the Restatement (Third) of Property: Mortgages. The Supreme Court had held in 2012 that at the...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that Pennsylvania’s recording statute does not require the recording of all conveyances. As a result, the Third Circuit reversed the district court’s refusal to enter...more
In Haynes v. McCalla Raymer, LLC, No. 14–14036, __ F. 3d __, 2015 WL 4188459 (11th Cir. July 13, 2015), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Northern District of Georgia’s grant of summary judgment in favor of...more
Since the mortgage crisis began several years ago, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (“MERS”) has faced numerous legal attacks relating to foreclosures, assignments and what interest MERS holds in a deed of trust or...more
In This Issue: - Supreme Court Provides TILA Home Loan Rescission Guidance - West Virginia Legislature Proposes Changes to the WVCCPA - Defeating Another Challenge to the Mortgage Electronic Registration System...more
The Maine Law Court’s recent decision Bank of America, N.A. v. Greenleaf, 96 A.3d 700 (Me. 2014) has drawn significant attention to the issue of a mortgagee’s standing to foreclose a mortgage it holds by assignment from...more
On September 25, 2014, after years of litigation on the role, authority, and legal standing of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) to act on behalf of the mortgagee, the Rhode Island Supreme Court issued 10...more
This post is the third in a series of posts analyzing the 2013-14 term of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. This post provides in a nutshell what businesses need to know about the cases from last year’s term of the...more
The Maine Supreme Court has been active in the last few months – issuing several decisions that will likely impact foreclosure actions in that state. The decisions covered a full range of foreclosure issues, from whether a...more
A class action suit against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) in Pennsylvania will go forward after a federal district court ruled that the state recording statute is constitutional. The court ruled that the...more
In This Issue: - Kentucky County Clerks Cannot Sue MERS for Failure To Record Mortgage Assignments, Sixth Circuit Rules - Bipartisan Policy Center Proposes New Directions for National Housing Policy - FTC...more
The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action filed against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), its parent company, and 15 financial...more