The Title Reporter – Spring 2021

Here is what we cover in this issue of The Title Reporter: A Legal Update for the Title Insurance Industry:

• A trial court in New York has rejected a counterclaim filed against a title insurance company in a case it brought against an agent and an individual who signed a personal guaranty.
• An appellate court has ruled that the transfer of property by insureds to a limited liability company of which they were the sole members terminated the title insurance policy that had been issued to the insureds – and that rescission of the property transfer did not reestablish coverage under the title insurance policy.
• An appellate court has affirmed a decision in favor of a title insurance company in a case brought by property owners stemming from a dispute over an easement.
• A federal court has dismissed the duty-to-indemnify portion of an insurance coverage action brought by an insurance company against a title insurance company to which it had issued a professional liability insurance policy, pending resolution of the underlying lawsuit against the title insurer.
• A federal court has ruled that claims against a title insurer for breach of the title insurance policy and for bad faith were barred by the doctrine of issue preclusion.

Michael J. Heller, Peter P. McNamara, and Matthew V. Spero