Court Report

After being unsuccessful in filing a quiet title action against the adjoining property owners over an easement dispute, the plaintiff homeowners submitted a claim for defense to their title insurer. The title insurer denied the claim, asserting the suit was excluded from coverage. The homeowners then sued the title insurer for breach of duty. The case eventually went before the Supreme Court of Nebraska.

California homeowners sued their title insurer for violating RESPA when it received marketing fees from several delivery companies in exchange for referring overnight delivery business to the carriers via the insurer’s subsidiaries. The case went before the U.S. District Court on the title insurer’s motion to dismiss.

After successfully preventing their lender’s attempt to obtain a deficiency judgment because the lender refused to remove a lien on their property and then foreclosed, a couple sued several entities, including a title insurer and the bank that held the questionable lien. Read on to find out what happened when the bank and insurer sought to dismiss the claims against them.

U.S. Representatives Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., and Denny Heck, D-Wash., have introduced a bill that would give small businesses a voice at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The bill, HR 4383, creates a small business advisory board at the CFPB. The advisory board would be similar to those established by the CFPB for outreach to community banks and credit unions. Advisory boards provide clear, formal and open channels of communication between bureau staff and industry.

A property owner purchased a fee interest in property in Brooklyn and air rights to contiguous property. It applied for a construction permit, but was denied because its certification of interested parties omitted certain necessary parties. It sued its title insurer for failing to submit the certification of interested parties on time.

After being sued and having a cross-claim filed against them, an insured sought indemnification by several insurers, including its title insurer. Each insurer denied the claim. The insured then filed suit against its insurers, claiming breach of contract, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and seeking declaratory relief. The insurers moved to dismiss the claims against them.

A professional liability insurer sued its insureds — two closing attorneys — seeking a declaratory judgment that a prior acts exclusion barred coverage of a lawsuit over their alleged failure to identify title errors with respect to a planned residential development. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted judgment on the pleadings to the professional liability insurer. The insureds appealed.

After being the victim of identity theft in the course of a mortgage fraud scheme, the victim and his wife sued the perpetrators, the notary who unwittingly helped them, and the title agency on whose behalf the notary was closing loans. A Minnesota district court held that the title agency was liable for the negligent acts of the notary because the notary was an agent of the company. The title agency appealed.

After discovering a handwritten change to the name of the grantor on its deed of trust, a limited liability company requested its title insurer to amend the deed. When the title insurer refused, the company sued the insurer for bad faith and breach of contract. Read on to find out what the Ohio Court of Appeals had to say when the case went before it.

An Ohio real estate attorney was suspended from the practice of law in Ohio after he admitted to misappropriating escrow funds to pay his title agency’s operating expenses. Read on for more details.