Essex County Register of Deeds John O’Brien has taken an unusual step in an effort to combat robo-signing and maintain the integrity of land records: Requiring banks or attorneys who submit documents he suspects are flawed to sign an affidavit swearing – on pain of perjury – they’ve reviewed their accuracy personally.
"I think the registrar has a responsibility if a document he knows is fraudulent, he’s not going to accept and put on record," said Kevin Harvey, first assistant register for Essex County. "We’re sending it back [to the bank or law firm which filed it], like we send back other documents that are flawed, and saying, ‘in order to submit this you have to attest that the person signing the document or notarizing the document is who they say they are.’"
Attorneys who’ve worked with lenders told Banker & Tradesman they had doubts about whether O’Brien has the authority to reject a properly notarized affidavit. They said if questions had arisen about the authenticity of a signature on a notarized document, the proper person to pursue sanctions would be the authority which issued the notary’s seal.
But the register is confident that demanding the affidavit is within his authority, citing an existing Massachusetts law which makes it illegal to record a document with a state registry that contains false information. Harvey emphasized that the register himself would fall afoul of the law if he were to accept a document he believed was fraudulent.
Amie Breton, spokesperson for Attorney General Martha Coakley, said that the office was aware of the register’s efforts but declined to comment further.
O’Brien is taking this latest step after rejecting two documents recently submitted to the registry, an assignment and a discharge. Those documents have since been sent back to the lenders in question and will be re-filed upon completion of the signed affidavit, the registry said in a statement.
The documents rejected by O’Brien contain the signatures of three known robo-signers, Linda Green, Korell Harp and Linda Burton. According to O’Brien, his Registry has documents bearing 22 different variations of Green’s signature and five different variations between Harp and Burton.
Green was a former employee of Docx, a subsidiary of maligned mortgage servicing company Lender Processing Services accused of forging assignments and other mortgage documents. Her role in the robo-signing scandal was recently highlighted in a "60 Minutes" expose.
The two latest documents in question with her name involved mortgages held by AIG and Bank of America; neither institution could be immediately reached for comment.
