News By Edition

After a Texas district court issued a vacatur order, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network paused its real estate transaction reporting rule. The Legal Description spoke with Celia Flowers, owner of Flowers Title Companies, LLC, and her legal team about the case and their thoughts on what comes next.

In light of a Texas district court order in vacating the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) residential real estate reporting rule, FinCEN announced reporting persons are not currently required to file real estate reports.

Under a binding agreement with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Florida-based real estate company MV Realty will be required to pay the state $600,000 in consumer restitution while nullifying its long-term real estate agreements, saving Colorado homeowners an estimated $8.4 million.

The Business Court of Texas, Fourth Division, recently issued an opinion in the case of Alamo Title Co. v. WFG National Title Co. of Texas, LLC, establishing the precedent that the Business Court has the authority to determine subject matter jurisdiction even with only indirect connections to intellectual property.

A small strip of disputed land, a denied building permit and other factors eventually led to a breach of contract suit between a property developer and a title insurance company. A U.S. District Court weighed in on the case to consider the title company’s motion for summary judgment.

Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas proposed a set of rules that would formalize SB 17, which took effect on Sept. 1, 2025, and prohibits certain designated foreign entities from owning land in Texas. Under the rules, title insurance companies would be required to report any suspected violations of the law.

Lawmakers in Virginia have passed a bill to amend and establish the formal duties of settlement agents operating in the state, including a requirement that instruments be recorded within two business days.

A house bill making its way through the Georgia legislature aims to curb the misuse of mechanic’s and materialmen’s liens.

A homebuyer took her property’s seller to court over the alleged breach of a related escrow agreement, only to appeal after a circuit court ordered summary judgment for the escrow service provider. After an appeals court partially upheld the judgment, the Supreme Court of Hawai’i took on the case to determine the validity of the lower courts’ rulings.

A real estate title and settlement agency located in Charlottesville, Va., began notifying customers on March 18 that it had been the target of data breach, with roughly 22,041 individuals throughout the U.S. thought to be impacted.

The real estate finance industry’s standards organization has partnered with the American Land Title Association to publish two new policy and settlement statement datasets, with the goal of aligning both organizations’ information processing standards.

During the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ 2026 Spring National Meeting, state insurance regulators issued a nationwide data call to insurance companies to better understand homeowners insurance markets.

Having been charged with six counts of bank fraud in relation to a mortgage scheme he operated in Florida, an Ohio man is facing up to 30 years in prison if convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, leading a bipartisan group of 12 other state attorneys general, is suing Indiana-based financial services company OneMain Financial for misleading customers and trapping them in costly loans.

In a March 13 ruling, a federal judge declared that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau violated the law by not requesting funding earlier this year, adding that the CFPB’s director does not have the authority to decide if the Federal Reserve has enough “combined earnings” to fund the bureau.

A law recently introduced to the Idaho legislature would prohibit non-U.S. citizens from purchasing or owning single-family dwellings within the state. The law would also grant the state’s attorney general the authority to take legal action against violators.

Following the March 6 renewal and modification of a geographic targeting order, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has released a series of frequently-asked questions to clarify the order’s scope and regulatory requirements.

Eleven defendants, including two foreign nationals, were arrested March 19 following a federal indictment for their involvement in a scheme targeting elderly victims' identities which they are accused of using to misrepresent themselves to lenders to obtain loans tied to the victims' properties.