The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is soliciting amicus briefs in Galiastro v. Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc., an appeal that presents the issue of whether the defendant, MERS, has standing to foreclose in its own right as the named mortgagee in a mortgage, when it does not have any ownership interest or rights in the underlying promissory note. The SJC will also decide whether its prospective 2012 holding in Eaton v. Fannie Mae, that a foreclosing mortgagee must either hold the promissory note or be acting on behalf of the note holder at the time of the foreclosure sale (see our analysis here), applies to cases (such as Galiastro) that were pending on appeal at the time of that decision. Oral argument in Galiastro is scheduled for May, 2013.
