Court Report

After paying out claims on five title policies on transactions signed by a fraudulent signer, a title insurer sued the notary that notarized the five signatures, alleging that the notary had negligently notarized the documents. The case eventually went before the Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal of California.

In a recent opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified what a borrower must do to invoke his or her right to rescind under the Truth in Lending Act. Read on to find out the court’s reasoning.

After a church defaulted on a loan, the people who lent the money for property in Houston foreclosed on the property and purchased the property at a foreclosure auction. Shortly thereafter, a tax collection suit was filed against them. They filed a claim with their title insurer, which the title insurer denied. They then sued the title insurer for negligence and breach of contract.

After litigating a leasehold dispute with the owners of the parking garage it managed, the insured sued its title insurer for not paying the attorney’s fees for the work done before the insurer-appointed attorney took over the case. Read on for more details.

Online real estate marketplace Zillow Inc., is the target of several lawsuits filed in California federal court by current and former employees who allege they suffered age, racial, religious, sexual and other forms of harassment, and even faced retaliation by company managers and executives after complaining about workplace conditions and reporting illegal conduct, including unlicensed Realtor activity and violations of RESPA. Read on for more details of the employees’ allegations.

Property owners sued their title insurer for negligence, breach of contract, negligent representation, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and insurance bad faith by failing to provide them legal access to their property. The case eventually went before the Supreme Court of Montana.

A dispute over who holds title to common areas in an Oregon real estate development led to the delay in building of condominiums on the site, and to a lawsuit filed by the developers alleging the dispute caused the failure of the project. Read on to find out whether the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment rulings in favor of the defendants.

The Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear a dispute between a bank, its title insurer and the title agent that conducted the closing, seeking to determine whether a separate contract between the lender and closing agent exists outside of a closing protection letter and whether the full credit bid rule applies. Read on for more details.

After both parties were sued by a non-party warehouse lender who was defrauded by a mortgage company and title agency, a lender sued its title insurer for failing to defend it in the underlying complaint.

After a title insurer defended its insureds through the process of addressing issues connected to a missing open space easement by the California Coastal Commission to keep most of the land as a native dune habitat, it denied defense of a suit brought by the commission for violation of the coastal act. The insureds filed suit against the insurer in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.