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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

Florida Fourth District Court of Appeals Rules in Bank's Favor in Foreclosure Action Based on an eNote

Fannie Mae Electronic Signatures UETA Electronic Records

Fintech

On April 20, a Florida District Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming a lower court’s final judgment in favor of a bank (Bank) in a foreclosure action against borrowers who signed a mortgage note electronically (eNote). Rivera v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. 4D14-2273 (Fla. App. April 20, 2016). In the proceedings below, the Bank had presented a sworn certificate of authentication which articulated, among other things, the Bank’s role as servicer of the eNote for Fannie Mae, and describing the Bank’s practices and systems used for the receipt and storage of authoritative copies of electronic records and for protecting electronic records against alteration. The Bank also provided evidence from the same system records and the records of MERSCORP, Inc., as provided for in the terms of the eNote itself, showing that the eNote was last transferred to Fannie Mae and that the authoritative copy of the eNote was maintained in the Bank’s systems as Fannie Mae’s custodian. On appeal, the borrowers challenged the adequacy of the Bank’s demonstration that the eNote had properly transferred to Fannie Mae, thus challenging the Bank’s standing to enforce the eNote and foreclose the mortgage as Fannie Mae’s authorized representative. Applying the Florida enactment of the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act (UETA) and relying on the evidence provided in the certificate of authentication, the court held that the Bank presented competent evidence proving that Fannie Mae owned the eNote and had authorized the Bank to pursue the foreclosure. The court noted that under the UETA, the person with control of a “transferable record” has the same rights as a holder and went on to hold that the eNote is a "transferable record" within the meaning of the UETA because it is an electronic record that would be a note if it were in writing, and its issuer expressly agreed on its face that it was a transferable record. The court observed that the Bank established that its records system stored the eNote in “such a manner that a single authoritative copy of the e-note exists which is unique, identifiable, and unalterable” and that the “authoritative copy, introduced into evidence by the [B]ank as Fannie Mae's designated custodian, identified Fannie Mae as the entity to which the transferable record was most recently transferred.” The court concluded that because the Bank proved that Fannie Mae had control of the eNote, and that the Bank was Fannie Mae's designated custodian, the Bank had standing to foreclose and affirmed the judgment of the lower court.