Security Title Guarantee Corp. of Baltimore v. United General Title Insurance

935 F. Supp. 816, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3899, 1996 WL 144402
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedMarch 28, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 95-1519
StatusPublished

This text of 935 F. Supp. 816 (Security Title Guarantee Corp. of Baltimore v. United General Title Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Security Title Guarantee Corp. of Baltimore v. United General Title Insurance, 935 F. Supp. 816, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3899, 1996 WL 144402 (E.D. La. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER AND REASONS

FALLON, District Judge.

Before the Court are two motions: 1) Security Title Guarantee Corporation’s Motion for Summary Judgment; and 2) Stewart Title Guaranty Company’s Motion for Summary Judgment. For the reasons that follow, both motions are GRANTED.

BACKGROUND: Security Title Guarantee Corporation of Baltimore (a Maryland corporation) (“Security”), Stewart Title Guaranty Company (a Texas corporation) (“Stewart”), and United General Title Insurance Company (a Louisiana corporation) (“United General”) are all title insurers who compete with one another in the Louisiana market. Each of them employed Charter Title, Ltd. (“Charter”) as an agent. Charter was authorized to execute title insurance commitments and title insurance on behalf of Security, United General, Stewart, and other title insurers. In addition, Charter rendered certain closing services, through its closing attorneys, to various customers. In connection with these various responsibilities, Charter held premiums and other closing-funds in escrow accounts.

On December 12, 1994, Security sent a representative to Charter to conduct an informal audit for the purpose of determining why Charter had not been remitting premi-Security terminated its agency relationship with Charter by letter on December 19, 1994. Two days later, on December 21, 1994, Security sent notice of this cancellation to the Commissioner of Insurance on a form provided by the Commissioner of Insurance. Stewart also sent a representative to perform an audit of Charter in December 1994. On December 30, 1994, Stewart sent a letter to United General advising of potential irregularities in Charter’s escrow accounts. Stewart terminated its agency relationship with Charter on January 3,1995. urns.

Although United General, like Security and Stewart, was aware in December 1994 that Charter had not remitted premiums for several months, United General asserts that it was not concerned about Charter.1 Consequently, unlike Security and Stewart, United General did not send an auditor to Charter until several days after receiving Stewart’s letter, and did not terminate its agency relationship with Charter until January 12, 1995. Charter filed for bankruptcy protection on. January 17, 1995, on which date deficiencies in Charter’s escrow accounts amounted to approximately $1.7 million.

On May 15, 1995, Security filed this declaratory judgment action, alleging that United General had been making accusations (to the Commissioner of Insurance and others), suggesting that Security was somehow responsible for United General’s losses in the Charter failure. United General filed a counterclaim against Security and a third-party claim against Stewart, seeking $1.3 million under theories of tort and unjust enrichment, plus $50 million punitive damages.2 United General alleges that both Security and Stewart uncovered the escrow shortages through their December 1994 audits, but failed to inform either United General or the Insurance Commissioner of this when they terminated their respective agency agreements with Charter, thus causing United General to sustain greater losses than it otherwise would have suffered. United General asserts that Security and Stewart

urns. [818]*818are liable under theories of tort and unjust enrichment.

ANALYSIS: Summary judgment will be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions, together with affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the defendant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. “Rule 56 mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish an essential element of that party’s ease, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Willis v. Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc., 61 F.Bd 313, 315 (5th Cir.1995). If the movant demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact, “the nonmov-ant must go beyond the pleadings and designate specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Id. This burden is not met by “metaphysical doubt.” Little v. Liquid Air Corp., 37 F.3d 1069, 1075 (5th Cir.1994) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)). The Court must “resolve factual controversies in favor of the nonmoving party, but only when there is an actual controversy, that is, when both parties have submitted evidence of contradictory facts.” Id. The Court does not, “in the absence of proof, assume that the nonmoving party could or would prove the necessary facts.” Id.

Security and Stewart argue that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law as to both United General’s tort claims as well as its claims of unjust enrichment.

A. TORT: United General argues that it has established a cause of action against Security and Stewart under article 2315 of the Louisiana Civil Code. To recover under the general tort theory of article 2315, a plaintiff must establish the following: 1) that defendant’s conduct was a cause-in-fact of the plaintiffs harm; 2) that the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff; 3) that this duty was breached; and 4) that the risk and the harm caused were within the scope of protection afforded by the duty breached. Roberts v. Benoit, 605 So.2d 1032, 1041 (La.1991).

Stéwart and Security argue that United General’s tort claim must be dismissed because United General cannot establish an essential element of a claim on which United General will bear the burden of proof at trial — namely, that Security or Stewart owed a duty to United General. Alternatively, they argue that even if they did owe a duty, the harm to United General was not within the scope of the protection afforded by that duty.

1. Duty: Whether or not a duty is owed to the plaintiff is a question of law. Roberts, 605 So.2d at 1043. “Simply put, the inquiry is whether the plaintiff has any law— statutory or jurisprudential — to support his claim.” Id. United General does not allege the existence of any confidential or fiduciary relationship among the parties. On the contrary, these three companies were competitors. Each of them was aware, in December 1994, that Charter had been derelict in remitting premiums. Security and Stewart were concerned. United General, by its own admission, was not. United General has failed to point to any basis in statute or jurisprudence for finding, under these circumstances, a duty on the part of Stewart and Security to disclose to United General the results of their independent audits of Charter or to inform United General that they were terminating their respective agency relationships with Charter.

United General attempts to circumvent this lack of a duty by arguing that Security and Stewart owed and breached a statutory duty (pursuant to La.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 22:1114(B)(7)) to notify the Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance immediately of the reason why they had terminated their respective agency relationships with Charter.

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935 F. Supp. 816, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3899, 1996 WL 144402, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/security-title-guarantee-corp-of-baltimore-v-united-general-title-laed-1996.