California Judge Dismisses Foreclosure Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO, March 19 (LID) – A federal judge in California on Friday dismissed a lawsuit alleging foreclosure abuse by Wells Fargo and the mortgage database MERS.

The lawsuit was filed in July by Michael Boyter, 61, whose Contra Costa County home was foreclosed on and auctioned off in September. He was evicted from the house just last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday.

Boyter’s lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleged the foreclosure was not legal because Wells Fargo Bank, foreclosure-services company NDeX West and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), a database used by banks to facilitate buying and selling of mortgages, failed to file proof they had a right to his mortgage.

California law requires that lenders must record their interest in a mortgage before foreclosure of sale of a property (Cal. Civ. Code 2932.5).

Boyter claims that in the foreclosure process some documents were backdated and that there was notary-public fraud, the newspaper reported.

Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California dismissed his case, but has allowed him to file an amended complaint with information to substantiate his claims.

She said in several cases, California courts have ruled that “it doesn’t make any difference” if the wrong party foreclosed.

“I’m struggling with the consequences if there were irregularities in the (foreclosure) transaction,” the judge was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Boyter bought the house in 1999 and refinanced it with Ohio Savings Bank in 2005. Fannie Mae, which repossessed the house for $180,600, was not a defendant in the lawsuit.

The case is Robert Boyter v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A. et al., No. 3:2011cv03943, Northern District of California (San Francisco).