Utah Code 31A-41-302. Department may defend action in which title insurance licensee does not appear or defend

31A-41-302. Department may defend action in which title insurance licensee does not appear or defend.

(1)

In a lawsuit alleging that fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit by a title insurance licensee in a real estate transaction proximately caused economic harm, if grounds arise for the entry of a default judgment against the title insurance licensee, the plaintiff may petition the court to join the department as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Terms Used In Utah Code 31A-41-302

Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
Department: means the Insurance Department. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
Fund: means the Title Insurance Recovery, Education, and Research Fund created in Section 31A-41-201. See Utah Code 31A-41-102
Insurance: includes :

(i)	a risk distributing arrangement providing for compensation or replacement for damages or loss through the provision of a service or a benefit in kind;

(ii)	a contract of guaranty or suretyship entered into by the guarantor or surety as a business and not as merely incidental to a business transaction; and

(iii)

a plan in which the risk does not rest upon the person who makes an arrangement, but with a class of persons who have agreed to share the risk. See Utah Code 31A-1-301

Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.

Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.

Title insurance: means the insuring, guaranteeing, or indemnifying of an owner of real or personal property or the holder of liens or encumbrances on that property, or others interested in the property against loss or damage suffered by reason of liens or encumbrances upon, defects in, or the unmarketability of the title to the property, or invalidity or unenforceability of any liens or encumbrances on the property. See Utah Code 31A-1-301

Title insurance licensee: means :

(a)	an agency title insurance producer; or

(b)	an individual title insurance producer. See Utah Code 31A-41-102
(2)	After being served, the department may appear, conduct discovery, and otherwise defend against any claim asserted against the title insurance licensee for which the fund may be liable under this part. A judgment under this Subsection (2) may not be issued against the department.

Repealed and Re-enacted by Chapter 138, 2016 General Session

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