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The Legal Description Edition
June 10, 2013
Banking regulators around the world have been working hard to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and are depending on banks and other designated non-financial businesses and professionals, including transactional attorneys, to help them in their efforts and have created a set of risk-based approach guidance to help them do that. During the Attorneys’ Title Fund Services Annual Assembly, a former chair of the American Bar Association’s Real Property Section discussed the issue, and good practices attorneys can implement to enact these international guidelines. In addition, this edition provides insight into a pair of Georgia lawsuits in which homeowners are claiming that vendor management companies, and the attorneys they worked with, engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. |
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Don’t be an unwitting accomplice to money laundering: It’s all about due diligence
Posted Date: Thursday, June 6, 2013
For more than twenty years, the U.S. government and other national governments around the world have worked to combat money laundering domestically and across borders. They want transactional attorneys, including those who close real estate deals, to take steps to assist them in these endeavors. To assist in this process, the American Bar Association (ABA) came up with a set of good practice guidelines to help legal professionals identify and mitigate risks. During the Attorneys' Title Fund Services LLC Annual Assembly, Kevin Shepherd, partner and managing director of finance at Venable LLP in Baltimore, Md., and a former chair of the ABA’s Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law, discussed the guidance and how to implement it.
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Government liens bill passes Florida legislature
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013
A bill requiring government entities that attach liens for things like improvements, services, fines or penalties, to file that lien in the county recorder’s office has passed both houses of the Florida legislature. Read on for more details.
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Insurer sues insured for failure to cooperate in claims investigation
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013
A national underwriter sued an insured after the insured failed to cooperate with a claims investigation regarding a tax lien dispute with the City of Bristol, Conn. After failing to cooperate with the investigation, the insured paid the tax lien and demanded it be reimbursed under the policy. Read on to find out what the Appellate Court of Connecticut had to say when the case went before it on appeal.
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Calif. man indicted for filing fraudulent ownership docs
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013
After his property went into foreclosure and was purchased by a new buyer, a California man allegedly filed fraudulent documents in the county recorder’s office that granted the property back to him to reclaim the home. He was arrested at his office in Los Angeles. Read on for more details.
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Amendments to Ability-to-Repay rule finalized
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized rules to facilitate access to credit by creating specific exemptions and modifications to the CFPB’s Ability-to-Repay rule for small creditors, community development lenders and housing stabilization programs. The amendments also revised rules on how to calculate loan origination compensation for certain purposes. The final rule amends the CFPB’s Ability-to-Repay rule, which was finalized in January of this year. Read on for more details.
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New York attorney steals $4M in real estate transactions
Posted Date: Monday, May 27, 2013
A disbarred New York attorney was indicted on multiple felonies for stealing more than $4 million from multiple individuals and banks he was representing in real estate deals, including his wife. Read on for more details.
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Court denies summary judgment in mechanic’s lien coverage dispute
Posted Date: Monday, May 27, 2013
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied motions for summary judgment filed by a title insurer and it’s insured regarding coverage of mechanic’s lien disputes. The insured brought claims for breach of contract and tortious interference regarding the denial of coverage, while the title insurer claimed the liens weren’t covered under the policy. Read on for more details.
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Nebraska adopts new lien law
Posted Date: Monday, May 27, 2013
The Nebraska legislature has adopted a bill that will, among other things, create an offence for fraudulently filing a financial statement, lien or document. Read on for more details.
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New requirements for Illinois title agents sent to governor
Posted Date: Monday, May 27, 2013
Both houses of the Illinois General Assembly have passed a bill to amend the Title Insurance Act by excluding limited liability companies from certain requirements, requiring that applications for registration as a title insurance agent include an affidavit that the applicant hasn’t been convicted of a crime and adding several factors whereby the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation may refuse to grant a registration. Read on to find out more.
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Couple sues title co. for agent’s misdealing in Costa Rica
Posted Date: Monday, May 27, 2013
A couple who partnered with an agent of a national title insurer on several real estate deals in Costa Rica sued the title insurer when they discovered their dealings with the agent had been fraudulent. Read on to find out whether the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held the title insurer responsible.
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Louisiana adopts title insurance bills
Posted Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Louisiana legislature has adopted two title insurance related bills, one creating a title insurance committee to study title search periods, the other to establish new continuing education requirements for title insurance licensees. Read on for more details.
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Colo. title agency principals indicted for alleged ponzi scheme
Posted Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office announced that the statewide Grand Jury has indicted the principals of Quantum Title after investigators found approximately $3 million missing from the company’s escrow account. After sending a letters to customers, its insurance company, and the Colorado Division of Insurance advising that it was unable to meet escrow obligations, Quantum Title ceased operations in July 2011. Read on for more details.
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Buyer receives wrong mortgage, sues bank, title co.
Posted Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
After discovering she received an 18-month commercial loan instead of a 30-year residential mortgage, a Montana woman sued the bank and the title company that conducted the closing for fraud, breach of contract, negligence and slander of title. Read on to find out what the Supreme Court of Montana had to say when the case went before it on appeal.
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Title co. must pay for losses due to unreported fraud, court says
Posted Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013
After being victimized by a mortgage fraud scheme, the bank that unknowingly provided the fraudulent mortgage sued the title company that handled the escrow, arguing that the company failed to follow the bank’s closing instructions and notify it when a request for disbursement came in at the 11th hour. The bank argued that had it been informed of the disbursement, it would have stopped the loan. Read on to find out why the Fourth District Court of Appeal of California found in favor of the bank.
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Georgia homeowners sue VMCs, attorneys for alleged UPL violations
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Georgia homeowners have sued vendor management companies and the attorneys they work with in two suits in federal court in Georgia. These class action suits allege the companies and attorneys engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, and make claims for violations of RESPA, racketeering and Georgia’s good funds statute. Read on for more details.
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Nationwide Title Clearing Inc. releases white paper on lien release issues
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc., a post-closing services provider for the residential mortgage industry, has released a new white paper that outlines its 10 top issues that mortgage loan servicers must consider when undertaking the lien release, the last step in the mortgage loan servicing process.
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Las Vegas attorney pleads guilty to mortgage fraud scheme
Posted Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
A Las Vegas attorney pleaded guilty to a charge brought against him that he participated in a scheme to obtain mortgage loans from financial institutions using straw buyers and false loan applications. Read on for more details.
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