Lawsuits Accusing MERS Of Mortgage Assignment Recording Fee Ripoffs Continue

In Multnomah County, Oregon, The Oregonian reports:

• Emotional testimony from people who recently lost houses through bank foreclosures punctuated a meeting Thursday, during which Multnomah County's commissioners voted to proceed with a lawsuit against a mortgage giant linked to countless foreclosures nationally.
  
  The lawsuit, expected to be filed within weeks in Multnomah County Circuit Court, will seek damages for allegedly unpaid document-recording fees from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS.

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• Although MERS has been previously sued in Oregon by private parties and by counties in other states, this lawsuit will mark the first time an Oregon county has moved ahead with legal action.
  
  The lawsuit will claim that MERS has avoided paying anywhere from $3 million to nearly $25 million in local recording fees. The actual amount will be determined by how many mortgages are involved, how many times each of those mortgages was bought and sold without new transaction fees being paid, and by laws that may allow triple damages in certain instances.

For more, see Multnomah County authorizes lawsuit against national mortgage giant to recover recording fees.