Attorney Glenn Russell Body Slams MERS & Harmon Law In Front Of The Mass Supreme Court

High Court Rules MERS Lacks Authority To Foreclose In Massachusetts

Foremost Foreclosure Defense Attorney Glenn Russell has scored another major win for homeowners in Massachusetts. Yesterday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in GALIASTRO vs. MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. that MERS lacks the legal standing to foreclose on a homeowner in Massachusetts.

The case also re-affirms and clarifies the SJC’s ruling in Eaton v. Federal National Mortgage Association in 2012.

We held in Eaton that a foreclosure by power of sale pursuant to G.L. c. 183, § 21, and G.L. c. 244, §§ 11-17C, is invalid unless a foreclosing party holds the mortgage and also either holds the underlying mortgage note or acts on behalf of the note holder. Id. at 571. We concluded also that the interpretation of “mortgagee” in statutes governing foreclosures under statutory power of sale provisions would have only prospective effect, although we applied our newly announced interpretation to the claims asserted by the plaintiffs in that case. Id. We now extend application of the holding in Eaton to cases such as this one, in which the issue was preserved and an appeal was pending in the Appeals Court on June 22, 2012, the date of the rescript in Eaton.

Basically the SJC uphold the argument that the mortgage follows the note and in order to foreclosure the party foreclosing must be the holder of the underlying note.
You can read the ruling below:

   Galiastro v. MERS -SJC