Appeals Court Dismisses Mortgage Database Lawsuit

A U.S. appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against several mortgage lenders over home loans maintained within the industry's private electronic database, according to a ruling.

The lawsuit targeted several lenders, including Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co, over their use of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS.

A proposed class action alleged a conspiracy among MERS members to commit fraud and facilitate predatory lending practices, as well as making it impossible for borrowers or regulators to track changes in lenders, according to a court filing.

A lower court judge dismissed the lawsuit, and Wednesday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.

``Although the plaintiffs allege that aspects of the MERS system are fraudulent, they cannot establish that they were misinformed about the MERS system,'' the appeals court ruling says.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs was not immediately available to comment. (Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)