For more than 30 years, the firm has represented many of the nation's largest title insurers and the State's most successful escrow agencies. Our clients include First American Title Insurance Company, Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, Chicago Title Insurance Company and Security Title Agency, Inc., among others.
The attorneys in our title insurance and escrow litigation practice regularly represent companies engaged in the title and escrow industry in various trial, appellate, and administrative proceedings in matters relating to escrow performance and title insurance defense, coverage disputes, and regulatory agency audits. Representative matters include the successful defense of an escrow agency's claimed non-compliance with escrow instructions; acting as counsel for a title insurer in several cases involving the location, extent and terms of rights-of-way for canals and ditches originally reserved (or granted) in federal land patents pursuant to federal statutory authority; and, the defense of a class action based upon allegedly improper escrow fees.
Significant published appellate decisions in which we have participated include Berry v. McLeod, 124 Ariz. 346, 604 P.2d 610 (1979), where the Arizona Supreme Court defined the disclosure obligations of escrow agents in certain common situations; Main I Limited Partnership v. Venture Capital Construction & Development Corp., 154 Ariz. 256, 741 P.2d 1234 (App. 1987), in which the Arizona Court of Appeals held that the late mailing of a notice of trustee's sale to third parties did not prejudice the debtor/trustor and, therefore, did not invalidate a trustee's sale foreclosure proceeding; and Luce v. State Title Agency, Inc., 190 Ariz. 500, 950 P.2d 159 (App. 1997), in which the Arizona Court of Appeals held that an escrow agent, who had recorded certain documents as a courtesy to an out-of-state escrow, owed no duty of care to the parties to the underlying real estate transaction. In both the Luce case, and in Northwest Bank Arizona NA v. Superior Court, 192 Ariz. 240, 963 P.2d 319 (App. 1998), members of the firm represented the Land Title Association of Arizona, as amicus curiae.
Members of this practice group have authored articles and participated in seminar presentations relating to a variety of title insurance and escrow topics, including, The Expanding Nature Of The Escrow Agent's Duties; The Judicial Pendulum Has Swung Too Far (Arizona State Law Journal); The Duties Of Title Insurers In The Non-Insurance Context (American Bar Association Title Insurance Litigation Newsletter); and Real Estate Titles And Title Insurance In Arizona (National Business Institute Seminar).
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