In a big victory for Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS), a federal district court in Arizona has dismissed 72 suits challenging the legitimacy of the consortium.

The district court cited a September case in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Cervantes v. Countrywide Home Loans, which came down in September, and also affirmed the legitimacy of MERS’ role in mortgage lending. Arizona is a part of the Ninth Circuit. The ruling continues a trend of victories for MERS in federal courts, including the In re Marron cases handed down in Massachusetts bankruptcy court in June.

Crucially, the Arizona court found that the plaintiffs in the dismissed cases lacked standing to bring suit against MERS, ruling that since the plaintiffs were in default and someone had the power to foreclose on them, even if MERS assignments were problematic it did not mean that MERS had harmed the plaintiffs. The court also ruled that the note and deed of trust are not split when MERS is beneficiary, and that MERS and its trustees have the power to make assignments and to foreclose.

"The Court’s dismissal of these 72 cases against MERS, including six class actions, is an extremely significant ruling and shows that claims being made against MERS and MERSCORP alleging fraud, or that security interests are unenforceable, or alleging that foreclosures are inappropriate due to MERS’ presence as a party, are meritless," said Janis Smith, MERSCORP Vice President for Corporate Communications. "The Court’s clearly-worded order affirms the validity of the MERS business model and the exercise of powers associated with it."