Indiana State House Rotunda Image Courtesy of Library of Congress.
Late notice was held to bar a breach of contract claim and a bad faith claim against Conestoga Title Insurance Company in Pike v. Conestoga Title Ins. Co., 44 N.E.3d 787 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015).
Michael and Chassidy Pike's title insurance claim was based on a notice of tax sale. The Pikes received the notice, contacted the mortgage servicer who after all was supposed to pay the taxes out of escrow, and the mortgage servicer told them to ignore the notice of tax sale because, it said, all the taxes were paid. So, the Pikes did not notify Conestoga.
The Pikes eventually lost their house at the tax sale they previously ignored. It turns out that the taxes were not paid after all.
The instant decision may not have affected the outcome of the Pikes' pending lawsuit against the mortgage servicer and the bank which bought the Pikes' mortgage. The Indiana Court of Appeals merely affirmed the trial court's summary judgment in favor of Conestoga.
However, by this time and for whatever reason, the Pikes had already dismissed their case with prejudice against all "the bank defendants."
Please Read The Disclaimer. ©2016 by Dennis J. Wall, author of Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith (3d ed. Thomson Reuters West in 2 Volumes, with Supplements). All rights reserved.
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