IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA,
RECORDER OF DEEDS, by and through
Nancy J. Becker in her official
capacity as Recorder of Deeds of
Montgomery County, on its own
behalf and on behalf of all others
similarly situated,
Plaintiff,
v.
MERSCORP, INC., and MORTGAGE :
ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, :
INC.,
Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
JOYNER, J. June 30, 2014
…it is hereby ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion is DENIED in its
entirety and Plaintiff’s Motion is GRANTED IN PART as outlined in
the preceding Memorandum Opinion.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Declaratory Judgment is hereby
entered in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendants such that
Defendants’ are declared to be obligated to create and record
written documents memorializing the transfers of debt/promissory
notes which are secured by real estate mortgages in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for all such debt transfers past,
present and future in the Office for the Recording of Deeds in
the County where such property is situate.
IT IS STILL FURTHER ORDERED AND DECLARED that inasmuch as
such debt/mortgage note transfers are conveyances within the
meaning of Pennsylvania law, the failure to so document and
record is violative of the Pennsylvania Recording Statute(s).
…….
In addition, Plaintiff has produced reports from two of its
proposed expert witnesses with experience in forensic analysis of
chain of title issues and real estate law – Marie T. McDonnell
and Charles W. Proctor, III. Ms. McDonnell reported on her
analysis of a MERS mortgage for a residential property in
Montgomery County which was originated with Countrywide Home
Loans, Inc. in June, 2005, was securitized in late August, 2005,
sold at least three times and foreclosed in March, 2013. (See,
Plaintiff’s Exhibit “G,” pp. 3-5). Throughout the process, Ms.
McDonnell found that there were five missing assignments that
should have been recorded with the Montgomery County Recorder of
Deeds, that the MERS Milestones data was incomplete and in
contradiction to the securitization deal documents, and that
title to the property had been corrupted by MERS’ failure to
record a complete chain of title. (Exhibit “G,” p.7).
