Steeg Law’s litigation practice group offers vigorous and cost-effective advocacy in the highly specialized area of title insurance claims litigation. Our litigation attorneys have experience that extends from curative actions and lien priority defense to coverage, policy interpretation, and bad-faith defense. The lead attorney for our title insurance litigation practice is Charles L. Stern, Jr.

With decades of experience representing national title insurance companies, Steeg Law’s litigation team can formulate a litigation plan to efficiently resolve even the most complicated claim. In addition, the smaller size of the firm allows us to pass cost savings on to our clients, while our firm-wide focus on real estate issues allows us to produce consistent, high-quality work product, regardless of claim size. Our attorneys also have the unique advantage of being able to consult with title attorneys performing title insurance underwriting work in Steeg Law’s in-house title insurance agency, Orleans Title Insurance Agency, L.L.C.

The firm practices in all state and federal courts in Louisiana, as well as the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Representative Claims and Issues

• Acquisitive prescription (adverse possession)
• Boundary disputes
• Enclosed estates and other access disputes
• Erroneous cancellation of mortgages
• Fraudulent or otherwise unauthorized instruments
• Legal description and other defects in instruments
• Lender liability and banking litigation, including reverse mortgages and wrongful foreclosures
• Mortgages that fail to encumber all property interests, including community property interests and minors’ interests
• Mortgage/lien/encumbrance priority and ranking
• Partition actions
• Public records doctrine and recordation issues
• Servitudes/easements
• Tax liens and code-enforcement liens
• Tax sale disputes, including notice issues and dual assessments

Representative Cases

• Successfully defended $5 million mortgage claim brought against large mixed-use development, including oral argument before United States Supreme Court
• Defended national title insurance company against $10,000,000 claim brought by owner of Utah timberland based on alleged lack of access, resulting in favorable settlement for insurer
• Established priority of bank mortgage on Lake Charles shopping center against the claims of other creditors in bankruptcy, enabling bank to enforce mortgage successfully
• Successfully defended national title insurance company in $13 million dollar action filed by lender for losses allegedly suffered due to loss in priority of preferred ship mortgages
• Successfully defended title to commercial land located along Lake Pontchartrain against adverse ownership claims of State of Louisiana and East Jefferson Levee District
• Established that owner of former rail yard had good title to paper streets within yard, overcoming claims of City of New Orleans