Updated on February 3, 2022
As real estate lawyer Los Angeles California we frequently represent our clients in title disputes or disputes involving ownership in real property. These disputes range from quiet title actions, partition actions and even actions to force the sale of real property to recover on a lien. In these types of disputes obtaining a litigation guarantee can be a good idea.
A litigation guarantee is essentially an insurance policy that is issued in favor of the attorney and the client in an action affecting land. A decree in these types of action, like foreclosure of a lien, is only binding on the parties named as defendants which should be the same parties claiming an interest in the land. Therefore, it is important for the plaintiff to determine the existence and identify of all the parties that should be used included in the lawsuit to obtain the objective of the litigation. The typical litigation guarantee will set forth the lien holders so that the plaintiff will know which parties to include in the lawsuit.
The litigation guarantee then offers the plaintiff protection or insurance that they have named all of the proper parties. It also offers a view of lien priority so that the plaintiff can properly understand the priority of the liens affecting the property. If, after the lawsuit has been resolved, a new party steps forward and asserts an interest in the property that was not disclosed in the litigation guarantee, then the plaintiff can ask the title company who issued the litigation guarantee to defend such claims.
This blog post only scratches the surface on litigation guarantees. Litigation guarantees are complex title insurance policies but they should be considered in actions involving ownership and liens on land.
We have experience using litigation guarantees throughout Southern California including Los Angeles County and Ventura County. For help with your real estate claim or to see if you qualify for a free 30 minute consultation, contact us by filling out the contact form on the right hand side of this page, by emailing us at [email protected], or calling us at (310) 954-1877.
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