Stewart failed to disclose that they are also shareholders of MERS.

Stewart-

Dear Associates:

The Washington State Supreme Court issued an opinion certifying to the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in Bain v. Metropolitan Mortgage, etc. that under the current state of Washington law, unless MERS has an ownership interest in the underlying indebtedness, MERS is not a beneficiary within the terms of the Washington law (and does not have standing to participate in a non-judicial foreclosure). The Washington court specifically declined to rule on what the legal effect of acting as an “unlawful beneficiary” would be. This raises a number of underwriting issues for title insurers and their agents.

The underwriting guidelines below are issued in conjunction with the guidelines contained in Stewart Bulletin SLS2010023 Insuring at or after Mortgage or Deed of Trust Foreclosure.

For the purposes of this memorandum, we will define “participation” as the execution of any document in the non-judicial foreclosure process — substitution of trustee, notices, anything other than an assignment of “any interest under the deed of trust to the holder of the secured note.”

[STEWART TITLE]

H/T Social Apocalypse

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