Appellate Law Blog

In many real estate transactions, the seller will agree to provide title insurance to the buyer in an attempt to assure the buyer that their title to the property is free and clear of encumbrances. The seller may contact a title insurance company who will then solicit insurance companies to cover the property after investigating its title history.

Such was the case in Meridian Title Corp. v. Gainer Group, LLC, No. 46A03-1006-PL-312, where the trust of a deceased’s estate engaged Meridian Title to procure title insurance on property it intended to sell Gainer Group, a real estate re-seller. After Meridian obtained the insurance from a third-party insurer, the trust presented the information that it had sold more land to Gainer Group than it had intended. At a mediation meeting held by Meridian Title, Meridian’s CEO told Gainer he believed that Gainer had no claim against the trust because of a provision in the contract excluding protection where the buyer does not obtain a survey, which Gainer had failed to do. The trust filed suit against Gainer to recover the portion of property that it had not intended to sell. After initially retaining its own lawyer, Gainer filed an insurance claim with the insurer procured by Meridian and the insurer agreed to provide Gainer’s defense. Gainer then filed this separate suit against Meridian, alleging that Meridian had failed to properly handle its situation and sought to recover the legal expenses it incurred before the insurer took over the defense. Meridian filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, arguing that it owed no further duty to Gainer than the general duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and good faith diligence in obtaining a policy for title insurance.  The trial court denied the motion and this interlocutory appeal followed.

In its opinion, the Indiana Court of Appeals found that an insurance agent’s (Meridian) duty “does not extend beyond merely procuring insurance for the insured unless the insured can establish the existence of an intimate, long-term relationship with the agent, or some other special circumstance.”   Due to the standard nature of the transaction performed by Meridian, the court found there to be no intimate, long-standing relationship between Meridian and Gainer Group. The court did, however, find that there was a special circumstance present that would trigger an extended duty to advise on the part of Meridian. Because of the property dispute between the seller and the buyer of the property involved, and because of Meridian’s effort to resolve the dispute by holding a mediation conference, there was enough evidence to trigger an extended duty on the part of Meridian to advise Gainer Group regarding the title for which it obtained insurance. But because Meridian offered advice to Gainer by referencing the contract provision and stating its opinion that Gainer did not have a successful claim, the Court held that Meridian met its extended duty to Gainer and reversed the trial court’s denial of summary judgment.