Court Report

After it was discovered that a closing agent failed to pay off prior mortgages when conducting several refinance transactions, the lender went to the underwriter to make it whole. When the underwriter denied the claim, the lender sued for breach of contract, among other things. Read on to find out what the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had to say when the case went before it on the underwriter’s motion for summary judgment.

The Florida Supreme Court last week heard oral arguments in a foreclosure case that has been watched by many in the real estate and mortgage servicing market in Florida. The court will answer a certified question regarding alleged fraud in the original foreclosure filing. Read on for more details.

After a borrower in California defaulted on a $37 million construction loan, the lender sued the underwritten title company and the title insurer for allegedly breaching the lenders closing instructions and the title policy and also for alleged fraud, breach of fiduciary duties and bad faith. After almost 2 months of trial, a jury found otherwise, finding no fault on the part of the title company or the title insurer. Read on for details of this case.

A dispute over allegedly improper closing costs caused a U.S. District Court judge in Washington to examine the role of the escrow agent. Read on to find out what he had to say about the escrow agent’s responsibilities.

After spending several months building on property he thought he purchased, a man in Oregon found that he had actually purchased an adjacent lot in the same development. As part of a series of court proceedings, he sued the title company for changing the lot number in the title commitment and deed without informing him or the seller of the property. Read on to find out what the Court of Appeals of Oregon had to say when the case came before it.

Fourteen Kentucky clerks filed suit against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. and several others, including the American Land Title Association, First American Title Insurance Co. and Stewart Title Guaranty Co. Read on for more details about the suit.

A U.S. district court judge in Maine has allowed a lawsuit brought against a national underwriter to move forward as a class action, and also authorized notice to potential class members. Read on to find out more about this reissue rate dispute.

After a liability insurer sued a title agent it insured, the agent’s underwriter tried to step in. Both parties to the suit opposed intervention when the motion came before the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. Read on for the court’s decision.

After two underwriters successfully convinced a Maryland court that homeowners must first seek an administrative remedy before suing the insurers in a reissue rate dispute, they were awarded costs. The homeowners sought reconsideration, claiming that the insurers were not prevailing parties under the law. Read on for the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on this matter.

Thirty of Louisiana’s parish clerks are suing 17 banks that used Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., alleging that the group committed a racketeering scheme to avoid paying recording fees to the parishes for mortgage assignments. Read on for more details from the complaint.