Industry Changing Title Insurance Class Action Settlement Announced by Wites & Kapetan, P.A.

12 September 2005

The Law Firm of Wites & Kapetan, P.A. announced the settlement of a class action pending against Florida's largest title insurer, Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund, Inc. The lawsuit, which is pending in Broward County Circuit Court, alleges that Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund, Inc., which is known as The Fund, overcharged persons that pay the premiums for title insurance in Florida.

The lawsuit focuses on title insurance premiums charged to borrowers in mortgage refinancing transactions. In such transactions, the borrower is required to pay a title insurance company a premium for a title insurance policy that the insurer then issues to the lender. That policy is known as a Lender's Policy, and insures the lender, not the borrower. The lawsuit alleged that The Fund overcharged borrowers for such premiums by failing to charge them a discounted premium as required by Florida law, known as the Reissue Rate. The plaintiffs also alleged that The Fund failed to charge the Reissue Rate in other circumstances where the law so required.

In settling the lawsuit, The Fund established a settlement fund of $2.5 million to pay the claims of class members, and agreed to institute wide-ranging changes to its business practices that are an industry first. In the settlement documents, The Fund agrees that charging Reissue Rates is mandatory, and that virtually all Florida residents are eligible for such rates. The Fund will now communicate to and enforce this policy among its agents, and will include these changes in all future training, policy and procedure manuals. The Fund will also communicate these policies to the entire title insurance industry in all future editions of "The Fund Title Notes", the leading practice guide for Florida's title insurance industry. All of the changes are new for The Fund, and are the result of this settlement.

Included in the class are persons that paid a title insurance premium to The Fund from February 1, 1999 to September 5, 2005 that should have been, but were not, charged a premium based on the Reissue Rate in connection with (1) a mortgage refinancing; (2) the purchase of unimproved land; and/or (3) the purchase of a property from a seller that purchased that property within three years of your purchase. Class members will soon receive notice of the settlement through direct mail, and publication in newspapers throughout the state.

Marc A. Wites, of Wites & Kapetan, P.A., is counsel to Plaintiffs and the Class in this and 5 other similar class actions pending against Florida title insurers, including Stewart Title Guaranty Company, Old Republic National Title Insurance Company, Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation, American Pioneer Title Insurance Company, k/n/a Ticor Title Insurance Company of Florida, and Fidelity National Title Insurance Company. Like the case against The Fund, the plaintiffs in these class actions allege that they were overcharged for title insurance premiums.

For more information about the settlement and other pending title insurance class actions, contact Marc A. Wites, toll free at 1-866-277-8631 or at 954-570-8989, or by email at mwites@wklawyers.com.

Visit The Florida Litigation Guide, authored by Marc A. Wites, at www.flalitguide.com

Source: Business Wire

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