News By Edition

The successor-in-interest to a loan servicer sued a title insurer for breach of contract for denying a claim to recover the value of loss under the title insurance policy. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment and dismissed the case for failure to join a required party. The parties appealed to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

North Carolina Judge Mark Davis granted the motion by the state’s attorney general for preliminary injunction against MV Realty.

The Justice Department announced a multinational operation involving actions in the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Romania, and Latvia to disrupt the botnet and malware known as Qakbot and take down its infrastructure. The action represents the largest U.S.-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet infrastructure leveraged by cybercriminals to commit ransomware, financial fraud, and other cyber-enabled criminal activity.

The North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation prohibiting unfair residential real estate service agreements.

The Nevada Division of Insurance and Division of Real Estate issued a consumer alert warning Nevadans of the rise of real estate identity theft and fraud.

During its regular session, the Texas Legislature passed a law regarding instruments naming a trust as a party. That law went into effect Sept. 1.

During its regular session, the Texas Legislature adopted legislation increasing the amount of certain fees charged by notaries. The law went into effect Sept. 1.

The New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance issued a notice extending the time to pay the state fraud assessment.

The North Carolina Department of Insurance launched a podcast designed to help inform consumers on various insurance topics and promote the many programs located within the department.

The former owner of property in Chesterfield County, Va., appealed a trial court’s order dismissing his claim for partition of the property and for damages against the new owner of the property after discovering an error on the deed that omitted one of the lots from the property. The new owner purchased the property from the former owner’s lender after the lender foreclosed and the former owner surrendered the property.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation that, among other things, adopts a predictable recording fee schedule for recordings in first-,second- and third-class counties.

The Maryland Insurance Administration adopted amendments to regulations regarding insurer’s audits of title agencies. The notice in the Maryland Register stated the purpose of the changes was to “lessen the burden of audits for title agencies and improve the efficiency of the Title Unit.”

The holder of a judgment against property in Queens, N.Y., filed a third-party complaint against the settlement company that issued the title policy, seeking to recover damages for fraudulent concealment and prima facie tort asserted against it. After the trial court denied the settlement company’s motion to dismiss, the settlement company appealed.

The Kentucky Department of Insurance withdrew Advisory Opinion 2023-01 because it was replaced by regulation 806 K.A.R. 3-250, effective July 5.

The Utah Insurance Department repealed a process for the mandatory reporting of a fraudulent insurance act. Section 31A-31-110 was amended by HB 410, making the rule unnecessary.

The Idaho Department of Insurance selected an administrator of its regulator licensing examinations, effective Sept. 1.