Brown v. Ticor Title Insurance

982 F.2d 386
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 28, 1992
DocketNo. 91-15474
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 982 F.2d 386 (Brown v. Ticor Title Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Ticor Title Insurance, 982 F.2d 386 (9th Cir. 1992).

Opinion

T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

Appellants Brown and Dziewit (hereinafter “Brown”) are representatives of the Arizona and Wisconsin classes of consumers of title insurance. After the approval of a settlement agreement in a class action in Pennsylvania involving the same parties, Brown filed the present action in the district court of Arizona alleging a conspiracy to fix price levels for title search and examination services. Brown sought relief from the district court in the form of (1) treble damages, (2) costs and attorney fees, and (3) judgment restraining and enjoining the appellees from engaging in unlawful conduct. The appellees, title insurance companies (hereinafter “Ticor”), filed a motion for summary judgment, based on res judicata, which the district court granted. We affirm the district court in part in holding that res judicata bars injunctive relief, and reverse and remand on all other issues.

[388]*388 RELATED CASES

In 1985, following enforcement proceedings initiated by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), twelve separate class action lawsuits were filed in five federal district courts in four states. The complaints alleged price fixing by various title insurance companies, encompassing the defendants in the present case, in thirteen affected states, including Arizona and Wisconsin. The class actions were consolidated as MDL 633 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. In re Real Estate Title and Settlement Servs. Antitrust Litig., 1986-1 Trade Cas. (CCS) 1167, 149 (E.D.Pa.1986), aff'd without opinion, 815 F.2d 695 (3d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 909, 108 S.Ct. 1085, 99 L.Ed.2d 243 (1988). The complaints alleged that Ticor had violated the antitrust laws by participating in state-licensed rating bureaus which filed collective rates for real estate title search and examination services with state insurance regulatory bodies.

The district court in MDL 633 found that under Southern Motor Carriers Rate Conference, Inc. v. United States, 471 U.S. 48, 105 S.Ct. 1721, 85 L.Ed.2d 36 (1985), Ticor could establish at least the first part of the two-part test for a state action immunity defense. See In re Real Estate, 1986-1 Trade Cas. (CCH) ¶ 67,149, at 62,92s.1 Before the court could decide the second part of the test, however, the parties reached a settlement in which the monetary claims against Ticor were dropped. The settlement was accepted by the MDL 633 court in its written decision dated June 10, 1986. Id. at 62,937.

The Arizona attorney general then filed a new complaint in Arizona state court on behalf of state school districts seeking damages from the same defendants under state law. The MDL 633 court granted an injunction against the state court suit. The injunction was vacated by the Third Circuit, which held that the MDL 633 settlement could be collaterally attacked. In re Real Estate and Settlement Servs. Antitrust Litig., 869 F.2d 760, 769 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 821, 110 S.Ct. 77, 107 L.Ed.2d 44 (1989). The court held that if a class member had “not been given the opportunity to opt out in a class action involving both important injunctive relief and damage claims,” then the class member must have either “minimum contacts with the forum or consent to jurisdiction in order to be enjoined by the district court that entertained the class action.” Id. The court found that the class members in the MDL 633 case were not afforded the opportunity to opt out and did not have minimum contacts or consent to jurisdiction. The Arizona state court action was therefore allowed to proceed in part to decide if the plaintiffs were afforded due process in the MDL 633 action.

The Arizona state court dismissed the complaint. The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal, holding that Arizona’s title insurance statutes authorized the “insurers to cooperate in rate-making in the issuance of title insurance policies,” and therefore the activity was not within the purview of the Arizona antitrust laws. Tucson Unified Sch. Dist. v. Chicago Title Ins. Co., 167 Ariz. 114, 804 P.2d 843, 845 (App.1991).

In 1986, an Administrative Law Judge entered an initial decision in the FTC’s enforcement action against various title insurance companies, including the defendants in this action, for price fixing in real estate title and search services. In re Ticor Title Ins. Co., Docket No. 9190, FTC Initial Decision of Administrative Law Judge (December 22, 1986). In its final order, the FTC found that the defendants’ activities in Wisconsin and Arizona were [389]*389not beyond the federal antitrust laws and that the state action immunity defense did not apply to defendants’ activities in Wisconsin and Arizona because there was no active supervision by these states. In re Ticor Title Ins. Co., Docket No. 9190, PTC Final Order (September 19, 1989).

The defendants petitioned the Third Circuit for review of the final order of the FTC in 1991. Ticor Title Ins. Co. v. Federal Trade Comm’n, 922 F.2d 1122 (3d Cir.1991). The Third Circuit held that the defendants’ “collective rate setting for title search and examination services in these six states [including Arizona and Wisconsin] [was] immune from federal antitrust liability under the state action doctrine,” thereby rejecting the FTC’s findings which rejected the state action immunity defense as to Arizona and Wisconsin. 922 F.2d at 1125-26. The court held that the state action immunity defense did not depend upon the quality of supervision, so long as “the state clearly articulates and actively supervises the [anticompetitive] policy.” Id. at 1140. The Third Circuit therefore vacated the FTC’s final order. Id. The FTC appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court which reversed and remanded the Third Circuit’s decision. Federal Trade Comm’n v. Ticor Title Ins. Co., 504 U.S.-,-, 112 S.Ct. 2169, 119 L.Ed.2d 410 (1992).

The Supreme Court held that the “mere potential for state supervision [was] not an adequate substitute for a decision by the State,” and therefore concluded that the Wisconsin statute did not provide immunity from antitrust liability. Id. at -, 112 S.Ct. at 2179, 119 L.Ed.2d at 425. The Supreme Court remanded the ease for further proceedings as to the quality of state supervision under the regulatory scheme in Arizona.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In 1985, the MDL 633 class action claims were filed in Pennsylvania. In January, 1986, a settlement was reached and presented to the MDL 633 court.

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982 F.2d 386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-ticor-title-insurance-ca9-1992.