The Supreme Court of Rhode Island continued the recent trend nationwide of affirming the legitimacy of Mortgage Electronic Information Systems’ (MERS [1]) role as mortgagee, including its authority to assign a mortgage.
In Ingram v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. the plaintiffs maintained that the mortgage assignment to MERS was void and its subsequent assignment to Deutsche Bank was also invalid, giving the bank no right to foreclose when he subsequently defaulted on the mortgage.
The court relied on previous case law to conclude that the contract explicitly granted the power of sale to MERS and its successors and assigns and the “assignee of MERS acquired all the rights which MERS possessed and therefore possessed the right to exercise the power of sale”.
“The Court’s ruling is consistent with previous decisions upholding MERS’ role as mortgagee and validating its authority to assign mortgages it holds,” said MERSCORP Holdings Vice President for Corporate Communications, Janis Smith.
The system, which was designed to eliminate the need and administrative expense for paper assignments of various mortgage-related rights as much as possible, has been under attack in state courts. The victory is the latest in a string of challenges to the validity of foreclosure proceedings by MERS assignees across the nation.