Court of Appeals decides to publish case rejecting title insurer negligence

Several weeks ago, we described the holding in Wormsbacher and W & FLLC v. Phillip R. Seaver Title Company, Inc., holding, in which a panel of the Court of Appeals concluded that a title insurance company cannot be held responsible for negligence.  This month, the panel decided the decision should be published and serve as a precedent for the proposition that title insurers can only be held responsible to fulfill the duties they spell out in the title insurance contract.  Under the decision, insureds have no remedies other than those agreed to by the insurer in the contract.  The judges concluded that if a buyer or developer wants a remedy in the event of an error in examining the title, it should pay for an abstract rather than a title insurance commitment.