COA: Upon Merger, Surviving Bank Becomes Holder of Note By Operation of Law

Today the COA held that when evidence is presented that a merger between two banks took place, the surviving bank succeeds by operation of law to the status of holder of the previous bank's note. The case is In re Carver Pond I.

This was a foreclosure case in which the borrower claimed that Bank of America was not the holder of the Note and thus had no power to foreclose. BoA had merged with LaSalle Bank, who was the previous holder of the Note.

BoA presented three documents to evidence the merger between it and LaSalle: an Affidavit executed by the loan servicer stating that BoA was successor by merger to LaSalle; a certified statement from the assistant secretary of BoA that the merger took place; and a letter from the Comptroller of the Currency Administrator of National Banks certifying that LaSalle merged with BoA. The COA held that these documents were sufficient evidence of the merger between LaSalle and BoA, and as the surviving corporation, BoA succeeded by operation of law as the holder of the Note, and had standing to enforce the Note in its own name.