Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company

Last updated

The Real Estate Title Insurance Company of Philadelphia was the world's first title insurance company. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Background

Prior to the invention of title insurance buyers in real estate transactions bore sole responsibility for ensuring the validity of the land title held by the seller. If the title were later deemed invalid or found to be fraudulent, the buyer lost their investment.

In 1868, the case of Watson v. Muirhead was heard by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Plaintiff Muirhead had lost his investment in a real estate transaction as the result of a prior lien on the property.[ citation needed ] Defendant Watson, the conveyancer, had discovered the lien prior to the sale but told Muirhead the title was clear after his lawyer had (erroneously) determined that the lien was not valid.

The courts ruled that Watson (and others in similar situations) was not liable for mistakes based on professional opinions. [4]

As a result of the case the Pennsylvania legislature included a section allowing for the incorporation of title insurance companies in The General Corporation Act passed an 1874. [1] [5]

History

Joshua H. Morris, a conveyancer in Philadelphia, and several colleagues met on 28 March 1876 to incorporate the first title insurance company to address the issue. The new firm, they stated, would "insure the purchasers of real estate and mortgages against losses from defective titles, liens and encumbrances," and that "through these facilities, transfer of real estate and real estate securities can be made more speedily and with greater security than heretofore." It took the name of The Real Estate Title Insurance Company of Philadelphia.

Martha Morris, Joshua's aunt, purchased the first policy, valued at $1,500, on 24 June 1876 to cover a mortgage on a home on 718 North 43rd Street in Philadelphia. [6]

In 1881 the company changed its name to The Real Estate Title Insurance and Trust Company of Philadelphia and in 1927 merged with the Land Title and Trust Company (founded in 1885) and the West End Trust Company to form The Real Estate-Land Title and Trust Company, which was shorted to Land Title Bank and Trust Company in 1936. [7] During a merger in 1953 with the Tradesmen National Bank and Trust Company to create the Trademens Land Title Bank and Trust Company, the title insurance division was turned into a wholly owned subsidiary known as the Land Title Insurance Company. [8] It was in 1955 that the Trademens Bank decided to sell off the Land Title Insurance Company to the Commonwealth Title Company. [9]

The Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Company of Philadelphia was incorporated in 1886. [10] In 1928 it merged with the Provident Trust Company which turned its title insurance business over to a wholly owned subsidiary known as Commonwealth Title Insurance Company. [11] The newly formed subsidiary quickly consolidated the title insurance business in Philadelphia by absorbing six local title insurance companies and assuming a new name as the Commonwealth Title Company of Philadelphia in 1929. [12] In 1938 it acquired the Pennsylvania Title Insurance Company from the Central-Penn National Bank. [13]

In 1955 that The company became the Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company through a merger with the Land Title Insurance Company (successor to the old Real Estate Title Insurance Company). [9] In 1964, Commonwealth purchased Louisville Title Insurance Company of Kentucky. [14] Commonwealth merged with Provident National Bank in 1969 [15] and was sold to the Reliance Group, Inc. six years later. [16] As part of the Reliance Group, Commonwealth merged in 1990 with Transamerica Corporation's subsidiary Transamerica Title Insurance Company which later became Transnation Title Company. [5] [17] It later became part of LandAmerica. When LandAmerica went bankrupt, it sold Commonwealth to Fidelity National Financial.

Related Research Articles

In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts and completion.

A mortgage is a legal instrument which is used to create a security interest in real property held by a lender as a security for a debt, usually a loan of money. A mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is the lender's security for a debt. It is a transfer of an interest in land from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed. In other words, the mortgage is a security for the loan that the lender makes to the borrower.

This aims to be a complete list of the articles on real estate.

Title insurance is a form of indemnity insurance predominantly found in the United States and Canada which insures against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage loans. Unlike some land registration systems in countries outside the United States, US states' recorders of deeds generally do not guarantee indefeasible title to those recorded titles. Title insurance will defend against a lawsuit attacking the title or reimburse the insured for the actual monetary loss incurred up to the dollar amount of insurance provided by the policy.

M&T Bank American bank holding company

M&T Bank Corporation is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 780 branches in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Connecticut. M&T is ranked 467th on the Fortune 500. Until May 1998, it was named First Empire State Corporation.

The Transamerica Corporation is an American holding company for various life insurance companies and investment firms operating primarily in the United States, offering life and supplemental health insurance, investments, and retirement services. The company has major offices located in Baltimore, Maryland; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Denver, Colorado; Exton, Pennsylvania; Harrison, New York; Johns Creek, Georgia; Little Rock, Arkansas; Plano, Texas; and St. Petersburg, Florida. Additional affiliated offices are located throughout the United States. In 1999, it became a subsidiary of Aegon, a European financial services company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.

PNC Financial Services North American bank

PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 19 states and the District of Columbia with 2,459 branches and 9,051 ATMs. The company also provides financial services such as asset management, wealth management, estate planning, loan servicing, and information processing.

National City Corporation was a regional bank holding company based in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, founded in 1845; it was once one of the ten largest banks in America in terms of deposits, mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Subsidiary National City Mortgage is credited for doing the first mortgage in America. The company operated through an extensive banking network primarily in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin, and also served customers in selected markets nationally. Its core businesses included commercial and retail banking, mortgage financing and servicing, consumer finance, and asset management. The bank reached out to customers primarily through mass advertising and offered comprehensive banking services online. In its last years, the company was commonly known in the media by the abbreviated NatCity, with its investment banking arm even bearing the official name NatCity Investments.

CoreStates Financial Corporation, previously known as Philadelphia National Bank (PNB), was a United States bank holding company in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area.

LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. was the third largest title insurance group in the US. It was incorporated in 1991 as Lawyers Title Corporation, and renamed LandAmerica after Lawyers Title acquired Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company and Transnation Title Insurance Company in 1998. It was headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia. The company's subsidiaries were primarily title insurers; however, they offered a number of other real estate transaction services.

Public Storage American self storage company

Public Storage is an American international self storage company headquartered in Glendale, California, that is run as a real estate investment trust (REIT). It is the largest brand of self-storage services in the US. In 2008, it was the largest of four publicly traded storage REITs. There are more than 2,200 Public Storage self-storage locations in the US, Canada and Europe. It also owns 42 percent of an office parks subsidiary, sells packing supplies, and provides other services. As a REIT, it is owned by real estate investors, who receive more than 90 percent of the company's profits as a return-on-investment.

Regions Financial Corporation American bank holding company

Regions Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail banking and commercial banking, trust, stockbrokerage, and mortgage services. Its banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates 1,952 automated teller machines and 1,454 branches in 16 states in the Southern United States and Midwestern United States.

First American Corporation

First American Financial Corporation is a United States financial services company and is a leading provider of title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries.

W Holding Company Former financial holding corporation located in Puerto Rico

The W Holding Company was a financial holding corporation located in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. On April 30, 2010, Westernbank, its wholly owned bank subsidiary, failed and its deposits and assets were seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and subsequently sold to Banco Popular de Puerto Rico.

Huntington Bancshares bank holding company headquartered in Ohio

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is a bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is ranked 610th on the Fortune 500, and is among the largest banks in the United States.

Marbridge Building

The Marbridge Building is an office establishment located at 1328 Broadway between 34th and 35th Streets, on the east side of Herald Square, Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1909, an 11-story building, utilized in part by Rogers Peet. Until October 1910 it stood opposite the Alpine apartment house, which was at the northeast corner of Broadway and 33rd Street. The Alpine and old stores between 33rd and 34th Streets were demolished to make room for the $5,000,000 Hotel McAlpin near the end of 1910. On the other side of Broadway were located the Macy's and Saks Incorporated stores, with the Gimbels store just below.

Silver State Bank was a failed Nevada commercial bank with 17 branches in the Las Vegas and Phoenix metropolitan areas and loan operations across the western United States. The bank's assets were acquired by Zions Bancorporation, a bank holding corporation with $2 billion in assets.

Provident Life & Trust Company

The Provident Life & Trust Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a demolished Victorian-era building by architect Frank Furness, is considered to have been one of his greatest works. A bank and insurance company founded in 1865 by members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), the Provident's L-shaped building had entrances at 407-09 Chestnut Street (bank) and 42 South 4th Street. The two wings were eventually consolidated into an office building at the northwest corner of 4th & Chestnut Streets.

Reliance Insurance Company

Reliance Insurance Company, now officially known as Reliance Insurance Company [in Liquidation], was founded in Philadelphia in 1817 and has undergone numerous corporate makeovers in the intervening years. As of October 3, 2001, the company has been in liquidation.

Fidelity Trust Company

Fidelity Trust Company was a bank in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1866 as Fidelity Insurance, Trust, & Safe Deposit Company, the bank was later renamed Fidelity Trust Company, Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company, The Fidelity Bank, and Fidelity Bank, National Association. It was absorbed in 1988 in the biggest U.S. bank merger up to that point, and is today part of Wells Fargo.

References

  1. 1 2 Craig, Mark R. Lawyer and Banker and Central Law Journal, 1932 25: 134, "What Is Title Insurance". Accessed 5 November 2008.
  2. ↑ Bintinger, Paul. Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, 1990 4: 687, "Conflict Of Interest: Attorney As Title Insurance Agent". Accessed 5 November 2008.
  3. ↑ The New York Times , 6 October 1888. HISTORY OF TITLE INSURANCE IN THE UNITED STATES". Accessed 5 November 2008.
  4. ↑ 57 Pa. 161 (1868)
  5. 1 2 National Title-Duluth, Inc. TITLE INSURANCE: AN AMERICAN TRADITION Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine ". Accessed 5 November 2008; Act of 1874, April 29, P.L. 73, §29.
  6. ↑ Harry K. Loper, “The Story of a Bank,” Landmark (March 1951): 6.
  7. ↑ A History of the Real Estate Title Insurance and Trust Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1895?, 19; Harry K. Loper, “The Story of a Bank,” Landmark (March 1951): 10; "Family Tree," Provident Trademen's Banknotes 22 (1963): 6-7.
  8. ↑ The Wall Street Journal, 24 January 1955.
  9. 1 2 The Wall Street Journal, 24 October 1955, p. 8.
  10. ↑ "Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Co.," Moody's Magazine 17 (1914): 90.
  11. ↑ The New York Times, 10 April 1928, p. 41.
  12. ↑ The New York Times, 19 April 1928, p. 41 and 23 March 1929, p. 29; the six companies were: Market Street Title and Trust Company, Colonial Trust Company, Integrity Trust Company, Continental Equitable Title and Trust Company, Industrial Trust Company of Philadelphia, and the North Philadelphia Trust Company.
  13. ↑ The New York Times, 12 April 1944, p. 30.
  14. ↑ The Wall Street Journal, 20 April 1964, p. 32.
  15. ↑ The Wall Street Journal, 5 March 1969, p. 24 and 24 April 1969, p. 9.
  16. ↑ The Wall Street Journal, 30 September 1974, p. 22 and 6 February 1975, p. 31.
  17. ↑ The Wall Street Journal, 3 January 1990, p. C19.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.