Title insurance litigation

Overview

The attorneys at McDonald Hopkins have aggressively fought real estate fraud and tackled complex titles issues long before the issues became "fashionable". Retained to represent both title insurance underwriters and their insureds, the firm's attorneys have participated in the development of title insurance law throughout the United States. Our team has been at the forefront of setting industry standards. Underwriters and other in the industry look to us to help refine those standards. As specialists in handling title insurance policy and closing protection letter claims, in each case we examine title with a critical eye considering law and equities. We develop the best approach to the problem, review it with the client and implement it. We devise strategies for our clients that put practical solutions first and seek to avoid the delay and expense of litigation whenever possible.

The title insurance industry and its insureds are not immune from the effects of human greed. The firm is often retained on behalf of the industry to stop those individuals involved in real estate fraud and defalcation. We understand the goal of any representation is to preserve the funds or assets that remain and, perhaps more importantly, recover those funds or assets that may have been diverted. Considering the forces working against these goals, conventional lawyering is simply ineffective. We look beyond conventional approaches and customize our approach based on each client's needs. We focus on obtaining extraordinary relief to stop fraud and defalcation before it results in claims.

These efforts begin with the collection of data. Banking and real estate data is extracted and processed through the firm's own proprietary software. Over the years, the firm has developed an array of legal and equitable tools to address these problems in an efficient and effective manner, including our own team of forensic accounting and computer professionals to assist in doing so. These in-house resources allow us to expeditiously attack any situation with an integrated approach that enables us to learn more about our adversaries than they know about themselves.

In addition to their work in the courtroom, the firm's attorneys have been called upon to lecture for many professional organizations including the American Bar Association, the Florida Bar, the Department of Justice and the Law Society of Canada. The firm's lawyers have also been retained by national underwriters to teach loss mitigation skills and to assist agents and staff in recognizing and combating fraud.