Title Insurance and Your Transaction
When a commercial mortgage lender sets out to enforce a mortgage loan following a borrower default, a key goal is to identify the most expeditious manner in which the lender can obtain control and possession of the underlying...more
Recently, a unanimous panel of the United States Circuit Court for the Fourth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion shooting down a borrower’s claim that the substitute trustee of his deed of trust breached its fiduciary...more
Financial Services Update - FCRA: borrower failed to state claim for violation of FCRA based upon alleged fraud/forgery of underlying loan document, which was a legal defense to foreclosure action and not a factual...more
Real Property Update - Foreclosure Sale / Challenge: borrower failed to meet his burden of establishing that gross inadequacy of foreclosure bid price resulted from "mistake, fraud or other irregularity" in the sale -...more
In JTREO, Inc. v. Hightower & Assocs., the buyer of a note and mortgage sued the attorney for the lender who facilitated the transaction by loaning money to the buyer for breach of fiduciary duty arising from the fact that...more
As with all businesses and markets globally, the real estate industry is facing unprecedented disruption, uncertainty and challenge resulting from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This advisory offers practical insight...more
Real Property Update - Fraudulent Transfer: Real property that was worth less than mortgage encumbering it was not an asset per the plain language of section 726.102(2) and, therefore, could not support fraudulent transfer...more
As I type this blog post, I am sitting at my desk with a four-inch-thick binder filled with title insurance forms—form policies, form endorsements, premium rate tables, survey requirements, etc.—and it occurs to me that many...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Documentary Stamp Tax: deferred interest on a “pick-a-payment” mortgage did not amount to future advance, which would have required payment of documentary stamp tax - Steinberg v. Wells...more
Foreclosure: non-borrower owner of real property as tenants-in-common with borrower not required to sign mortgage for borrower to encumber only his interest in the property and non-borrower’s signature on mortgage reflected...more