Sunday, June 03, 2012

Dallas County Suit Challenging MERS' Recording Fee-Stiffing 'Racket' Gets Green Light; Action Seeks To Include All Affected Texas Municipalities

In Dallas, Texas, The Southeast Texas Record reports:
  • A federal judge in Dallas has denied a request to dismiss Bank of America and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. from a suit claiming they created a system to avoid paying uncollected mortgage filing fees in Texas counties.

  • On May 23, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas-Dallas Division said the plaintiffs "have brought sufficient evidence to allow the case to go forward."

  • Dallas County filed the initial complaint in September, alleging that Merscorp Inc.'s MERS was established by banks including Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America to avoid paying filing fees, as well as to ease transfers of mortgages. Dallas revised the lawsuit in October, seeking to represent all other Texas counties in which a deed of trust has been filed identifying MERS as a beneficiary.