Pre-trial ruling favors the plaintiffs

A 10th circuit judge has issued a pre-trial ruling in a civil case brought on behalf of five low state counties. The counties of Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper are alleging that the national electronic registry MERS and its member banks have corrupted a traditional land records system and replaced it with a controversial electronic data registry. Based on a recent hearing in Oconee County, Judge Lawton McIntosh denied the request by MERS and the banks to dismiss all claims made by the counties. McIntosh’s ruling is seen as an initial ruling that keeps the case alive and clears a hurdle on the way to trial. One of the plaintiffs by name is Dale Butts, the Beaufort registrar of deeds who earlier held the same position in Oconee County. Oconee is not one of the plaintiffs, but Westminster businessman John Dalen has urged Oconee County Council to take an interest in the case because one of the potential outcomes could mean money for the county’s coffers. According to a Beaufort law firm representing the plaintiffs, the counties also allege that MERS and the banks “have been and continue to file fraudulent and inaccurate documents in an attempt to push through home foreclosures and to deal with chain of title issues.”