Fidelity National Title Insurance Company may breach the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, commonly referred to as acting in "bad faith," when they unreasonably or willfully deny benefits under an existing and enforceable insurance policy on a valid claim.
This is the most frequent question that I get on this blog. Although others have shared their stories I feel I can only comment on my own experience as a claimant with Fidelity National Title and did I feel that they did not protect by interest in my real estate investment and I feel that Fidelity acted in bad faith. This is my opinion but I have provided what I feel is evidence of this fact in multiple posts on this blog.
1. Did Fidelity National Title Insurance Company refuse to pay a valid insurance claim? My claim was opened by a Fidelity Title Officer on my behalf so there was never a question that my claim was valid but in order to not pay the claim which in my estimation was in excess of $700,000 Fidelity National Title Insurance Company hired an appraiser from Boise Idaho to determine the value of the loss of a mile long access easement to my property in the Napa Valley of California. He determined that the value of this easement was $0. I consider this a refusal to pay. After filing a lawsuit Fidelity did pay for about a tenth of the loss - as I could not afford to continue fighting them to get Fidelity to do the right thing.
2. Did Fidelity National Title Insurance Company refuse to pay the full value of your claim under the insurance policy? Yes in my opinion I believe they refused to pay the full value of the claim. I have an evaluation of value that shows that they refused to pay the full value of the claim. This document was given to the Fidelity National Title Insurance Company's in house attorneys and they communicated that Fidelity would not pay more than a tenth the value of the loss without my pursuing them with a full blown trial which they knew I could not afford.
3. Did Fidelity National Title Insurance Company take too long to pay or deny your insurance claim? I worked diligently for years to get Fidelity National Title Insurance Company to pay my insurance claim. Instead of paying the claim they bounced me from the Walnut Creek office to the Chicago office and finally to Omaha Nebraska where I had multiple Claims Counsels. The second appraisal was only done in response to my contacting the California Department of Insurance.
4. Did Fidelity National Title Insurance Company refuse to provide an attorney to defend you or your property rights? Although it was during the claims process determined that the easement was valid no attempt was ever made to defend my rights to this easement by Fidelity National Title Insurance Company.
5. Did Fidelity National Title Insurance Company fail to timely, thoroughly, objectively and fairly investigate your insurance claim? "Insurance companies are supposed to be on your side when you file a claim. Generally, the insurance company is supposed to look for insurance coverage - not ways to deny your claim. The claim process is not supposed to be adversarial. The insurance company is not suppose to put its interests above yours." Fidelity National Title Insurance Company and the Claims Counsels who were assigned to my claim were in my opinion NEVER on my side. They did not look for insurance coverage. Instead as it has been documented previously in this blog all that the did especially in the hiring of an appraiser from out of the area they actively looked for ways to not pay the claim. I believe it was obvious that their job was to protect the bottom line profits of Fidelity National Title and not to protect my interest in my real estate.
The bottom line is do I feel that Fidelity National Title acted in bad faith in the handling of my claim?? Absolutely. I believe that the evidence that I found just days before the Settlement Conference of bad faith is the only reason that they did raise their settlement offer by $25,000. My only regret is having accepted the settlement and not having the time, energy and money to continue the battle so that they not only had to pay for my loss but they also would have had to pay for the hundreds of hours I spent trying to get them to honor my insurance policy and pay the valid claim. And I feel that if they would have been found guilty of acting in bad faith that this would have been a great win for consumers.
As I knew that I could not continue on the battle the only requirement I really had in the Settlement Agreement was that there was no clause that prevented my from blogging and expressing my opinions about Fidelity National Title and what I feel was definitely an unfair handling of my valid title insurance claim.
So would I ever use Fidelity National Title Insurance Company to insure real estate?? Absolutely and unequivocally not.
My experience with Fidelity National Title Insurance Company was almost identical. Slightly different circumstances but the fact that the Claims Counsels (attorneys) were there to represent Fidelity and not me, the insured, was so obvious and blatant - it was disgusting.
ReplyDeleteThe Fidelity Claims Counsels are not there to aid the insured. They are there to insure that the money all of us consumers pay Fidelity for title insurance goes into the deep pockets of the Fidelity executives, shareholders and employees.
To call Fidelity National Title Insurance Company an insurance company is a joke.
Is Fidelity National Title deceiving the clients they serve by protecting one thing: profits?
ReplyDeleteDoes the Claims Counsel of Fidelity National Title have any purpose other than to sustain the companies' extraordinarily high profitability?
Is there any proof that Fidelity National Title Insurance isn't SUSTAINED BY LAW that the top priority of the officers of this company is to "enhance shareholder value"?
The answer.
Fidelity National Title has created a perception of it's role and usefulness that obscures it's real goal. Profits for the shareholders.
As a publicly owned company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: FNF). Fidelity National Title is under lawful obligation to meet profit expectations of the investors.
The only way this can be achieved is by enforcing laws on the American people that demand premiums for a variety of insurance policies offered to the public and then deliberately, lawfully and strategically denying payment of any claim made against those policies.
Thank God for you and this blog. I hope that your are reaching a lot of people to warn them about the greed of Fidelity National Title and their supposed claims counsels. I, too, had a valid claim but was made to feel that it was my fault and the claims counsels in Omaha made it quite clear that they were not there to assist me nor to even try to understand the issues. I am elderly I did not have the strength nor education to convince a lawyer that he was supposed to be representing me - not trying to figure out how to not pay the claim. Bless you and hopefully more and more people will find out how truly evil Fidelity National Title is as greed is one of the deadly sin.
ReplyDeleteAnyone thinking of using Fidelity for insuring their real estate should think twice.
ReplyDeleteFidelity also operates under Aero Records and Title, Alamo Title Insurance, Chicago Title Insurance Company, Commonwealth, Fidelity National Title, Lawyers Title, Security Union, and Ticor Title Insurance. Buyer Beware.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all of the additions to this blog!!
ReplyDeleteI used to work there as claims counsel and I'm not surprised in the least bit by your frustration. In fact, some claims counsel left the Company because of how they felt the Company treated the insureds.
ReplyDeleteThank you for making this comment and I am not surprised. Having had half a dozen .counsels - they all seemed to be interested in helping me at first. Then I believe it was found out the extent of my loss and I was then ignored or shuffled around and in some cases lied to - and from the little I learned during discovery - this was not an accident.
ReplyDeleteThe last thing I said to the attorneys who handled my settlement conference was to ask them how they could get up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror knowing what they were going to be doing to the insureds who their company was had the duty to insure but then the claims department does everything possible it seems to not pay claims. I found my experience with Fidelity National Title Insurance Company to be disturbing and dishonest but this is my feelings.
I just found your incredible blog about Fidelity National Title and I cannot thank you enough. I am purchasing property and after all of the information you have provided and your review of their title insurance services - I will definitely NOT use Fidelity for my title insurance needs and I am sharing your link with everyone I know. Thank you so much!!!!
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