TO: Press, TV and Radio stations in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron, and Toledo.
Contact person: Robert B. Holman, Esq.
OAITA (440) 232-9911
SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT TITLE AGENTS FILE NEW LAWSUIT AGAINST OHIO DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The suit is an important step towards reducing the overreaching power and influence a bank, real estate company and mortgage broker have over a homeowner’s real estate transaction and, in particular, a homeowner’s statutorily protected choice of title insurance provider. The lawsuit is important since many homeowners do not even realize such a choice exists. By permitting banks, mortgage brokers and real estate companies to move into the title insurance business, the lawsuit alleges that the ODI’s inaction has helped to feed the pervasive greed that has overwhelmed the real estate industry in recent years. Considering the well-known impacts of the mortgage industry meltdown and the rise in foreclosures across the country, homeowners across Ohio are well-served by the filed action.
Independent title insurance agents serve as important checks and balances on the power of banks, real estate companies and mortgage brokers to unlawfully steer homeowners’ real estate transactions to controlled entities. Members of OAITA and Eagle Land Title Agency, Inc. are independent title insurance agents and independent real estate settlement service providers who refuse to give kickbacks or referral fees to banks, real estate companies and mortgage brokers for the real estate transactions they close. Instead, independent title agents: (1) help to reduce the cost of title insurance by not engaging in elaborate schemes to reward referral parties at the homeowners’ expense; (2) help to lessen the likelihood of real estate related litigation involving homeowners by not allowing referral party pressure to dictate closing requirements; and, (3) help restore trust and integrity in the fiduciary relationship that exists between homeowners and their settlement providers by insuring that only disinterested title agents provide title insurance services, not their referral parties.
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Click here for the lawsuit