Georgia Court Rules in Favor of MERS, Citi in Wrongful Foreclosure Case

A judge in Georgia dismissed a suit from a borrower alleging wrongful foreclosure. Senior District Judge J. Owen Forrester of the Northern District of Georgia ruled in favor of defendants ""CitiMortgage"":https://www.citimortgage.com/Mortgage/Home.do, ""Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc."":www.mersinc.org (MERS), and ""Pendergast & Associates, P.C"":http://penderlaw.com/.

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In the case _Crutcher v. CitiMortgage_, the borrower argued MERS did not have authority to assign the security deed to CitiMortgage, therefore, CitiMortgage did not have proper authority to foreclose on the property.

The borrower alleged that American Freedom ""sold its interest"" in the borrower's loan to Irwin Mortgage, but the court decision pointed out that it was the servicing of the mortgage loan that was transferred, stating the ""assignment, sale or transfer of the servicing of the mortgage loan does not affect any term or condition of the mortgage instruments, other than terms directly related to the servicing of your loan.""

The decision said the security deed states MERS is the grantee, and as grantee, ""MERS has the power of sale and ‘the right to exercise any or all of [Lender's and Lender's successors and assigns'] interests, including, but not limited to, the right to foreclose and sell the Property.""

The court concluded that ""Because MERS still carried on as the security deed grantee, the
assignment of the Security Deed from MERS to CitiMortgage on October 10, 2008, had the legal effect of making CitiMortgage the secured creditor.""