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Two Minnesota Counties File Suit Against MERS

Ramsey and Hennepin counties filed suit against Mortgage Electronic Registration Service, Inc. (MERS), alleging the company violated Minnesota law by not recording mortgage assignments at county recorders' offices and by not paying attendant recording fees, ""Ramsey County Attorney John Choi"":http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/home/index.htm announced Friday.

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The civil complaint was filed in Ramsey County District Court. The complaint seeks to require MERS to ""properly"" record mortgage assignments with the county recorder/registrar of titles and seeks to recover recording fees. The counties also claim MERS violated Minnesota recording statutes by ""deliberately failing to pay county recording fees.""

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The counties further allege MERS has deprived counties and states of around $7.2 billion nationally.

""We are taking action today to re-claim and maintain the public's right to property records,"" Choi stated in the release. ""Our counties and taxpayers have suffered significant financial loss due to a back-door scheme to privatize our public recording system, and we intend to recover that loss.""

""The public never consented to a system in which some pay recording fees while others do not, and where some property record information is transparently maintained in the County Recorder's office while other data is in a privately run database,"" added Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

In a statement, MERS said it will defend against the complaint, announcing it has ""prevailed in similar recording fee cases in Kentucky, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Union County, Illinois.""

""Use of the MERS® System is legal in all 50 states, and MERS complies with Minnesota property recording statutes. Moreover, MERS worked in the past with both the Ramsey County & the Hennepin County Registrars of Titles offices on an amendment to the Minnesota Recording Act that was adopted by the Minnesota Legislature. The amendment, frequently called ""the MERS statute,"" went into effect on August 1, 2004 and it clarifies MERS' legal role,"" the company stated.

About Author: Esther Cho

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