Rhode Island Attorney: Entire Practice Now Devoted To Putting Heat On MERS By Challenging Its Legal Standing On Behalf Of Homeowners In Foreclosure

In Providence, Rhode Island, The Providence Journal reports:

• A Providence lawyer, George E. Babcock, said his entire practice is now devoted to challenging the legal standing of a private mortgage registration service, the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., known as MERS, to foreclose under Rhode Island law.(1)

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• Despite being on the losing end of an Aug. 25 decision by Providence Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein, which he has appealed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Babcock said he is still filing “two or three” MERS lawsuits a week for clients hoping to stop foreclosure proceedings. Babcock estimates he is pursuing a total of about 100 MERS cases.

For more, see Mortgage transfers spur R.I. lawsuits.

For NBC Nightly News interview with attorney George E. Babcock (video approx. 2:16), see Lawyer Practices "Foreclosure Stoppage."

(1) Formed in 1995 by the mortgage finance industry, MERS was created to increase profits and efficiency by eliminating the need to record changes in mortgage ownership at local government property registries, the story states. MERS is a corporation that also acts as a nominee for lenders and their successors.

In a separate, unrelated lawsuit [see Homeowners In Foreclosure Being Clipped For Illegally Inflated Legal & Appraisal Fees, Says Lawsuit], the following all star lineup of mortgage lenders have been named and identified as allegedly the controlling shareholders of MERS:

• Citigroup, Inc., the now-deceased Countrywide Financial Corporation (now owned by Bank of America), Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac (both of which are sucking wind financially, and are currently operating under the control of the Federal government), GMAC-RFC Holding Company, LLC, (doing business as GMAC Residential Funding Corporation), HSBC Finance Corporation, JP Morgan Chase & Co., the late Washington Mutual Bank (now owned by JP Morgan Chase & Co.), and alleged "ghetto loans" peddler, Wells Fargo & Company. EpsilonMissingDocsMtg