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88 IN THE NEWS MERS Granted Motion for Summary Judgment in Texas Court; Lien Reinstated A district court in Collin County, Texas, granted a motion for summary judgment in the favor of MERSCORP Holdings. e court also reinstated the MERS lien on the property, finding the lien to be "in full force and effect." MERS was seeking to rein- state a lien which it claims was improperly ex- tinguished by defendant Kingman Holdings in the case of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. v. Kingman Holdings, Inc. e lien was previously extinguished by Kingman in a quiet title action. MERS contended that their due process rights under both the Texas and U.S. Constitutions were violated when Kingman did not provide MERS, as record beneficiary of the deed of trust, with notice or make MERS a party to Kingman's action that sought to extinguish the MERS lien. Presiding Judge Scott J. Becker voided the prior judgment that went in Kingman's favor and reinstated the MERS lien, stating that the MERS deed of trust creates a "valid, subsist- ing, and enforceable lien" on the property, according to MERS. e judge also ruled that the MERS deed of trust is senior to any Kingman interest and he awarded MERS and MERSCORP Holdings with attorney's fees and costs associated with prosecuting the case. "is judgment once again confirms that as record mortgagee or beneficiary on security instruments MERS is entitled to notice of all proceedings affecting the real property en- cumbered by the MERS lien," MERSCORP Holdings VP for Corporate Communications Janis Smith said. "is ruling is consistent with case law in numerous states that has determined that MERS has a right to service of process." is is the third major court victory for MERS in the space of a month. In mid-Au- gust, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Nashville Division dis- missed a lawsuit that challenged MERS' role in a deed of trust in Tennessee. In early August, MERS was awarded a victory in U.S. Court of Appeals for the ird Circuit, which ruled that MERS was not duty-bound by the Pennsylvania recording statute to record all land conveyances. Morningstar Assigns Asset Valuation Vendor Ranking to eMortgage Logic Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC recently assigned its 'MOR RV1' residential vendor ranking to eMortgage Logic, LLC (EML), according to an announcement from Morn- ingstar. EML, a North Richland Hills, Texas- based wholly-owned subsidiary of Assurant, Inc., is now ranked as a residential vendor in the asset valuation market. Morningstar predicts that the ranking will be Stable. "e assigned ranking reflects Morning- star's assessment of EML's tenured manage- ment team, effective technology environment, comprehensive internal performance monitor- ing, pervasive enterprisewide risk-management infrastructure, and client-driven performance results," Morningstar said. In September 2014, Assurant acquired EML, the release stated. e Stable forecast is a direct reflection of Morningstar's confidence in EML's ability to leverage shared services such as human resources, training, legal and compli- ance, information technology, and internal audit in conjunction with its corporate parent. According to Morningstar, EML has already performed many organizational and technology integrations, which includes an upgrade to the company's continuity plan that incorporates geographical redundancy in the event of a business disruption. A solid training regimen, comprehensive policies and procedures, and proactive vendor- management protocols provide EML compre- hensive quality-control and performance-driv- en culture benefits within the organization. In addition, EML has effective vendor management oversight in place for selecting, qualifying, and assessing vendor performance, the announcement said. e company has also developed a scoring system to monitor and measure the company's performance and product quality against service-level agreement goals, which allows senior management to assess capacity and workflow to meet or exceed client benchmarks. "e integration of EML's business process outsourcing valuation services business with Assurant's suite of diversified mortgage industry products and services should position the company well for continued growth and market expansion in the valuation services industry," Morningstar said. Virginia RANK: 47 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate JULY 2015 1.54% 0.56% 4.5 YEAR AGO 1.74% 0.63% 5 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -11.7% -11.3% -0.5 Top County GALAX CITY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JULY 2015 2.51% 2.03% YEAR AGO 2.84% 1.51% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -11.5% 34.7% Top Core-Based Statistical Area MARTINSVILLE, VA 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JULY 2015 2.37% 1.36% YEAR AGO 3.47% 1.21% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -31.9% 11.8% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the July 2015 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary July 2015 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. West Virginia RANK: 31 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate JULY 2015 2.04% 1.02% 7.6 YEAR AGO 2.57% 1.10% 6.4 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -20.4% -7.4% 1.2 Top County MERCER COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JULY 2015 2.83% 2.10% YEAR AGO 2.66% 1.44% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 6.3% 46.1% Top Core-Based Statistical Area BLUEFIELD, WV-VA 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JULY 2015 2.67% 1.81% YEAR AGO 2.66% 1.44% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 0.3% 26.1% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the July 2015 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary July 2015 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics.

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