KEL partners’ title insurer halts business [Orlando Sentinel]

Oct. 18--Citing a regulatory mandate and a potentially crippling volume of claims, K.E.L. Title Insurance Group -- owned by the partners of Orlando's KEL law firm -- has withdrawn from the title insurance business and is trying to get into a state "rehabilitation" program for troubled insurers, the company confirmed Wednesday.

With its cash reserves faltering, K.E.L. Title stopped issuing policies Monday and severed its ties with agencies that had sold its policies and performed real estate closings, the company said. It said it had been "instructed" by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to take those actions.

Company officials said the business' cash-surplus reserve had fallen below the state-required minimum; meanwhile, they were negotiating with insurance regulators over terms of entering "rehabilitation" -- a sort of state-led business restructuring.

"The company is not insolvent, but its financial condition is impaired," said Craig Lynd, a K.E.L. Title executive and a partner in the high-profile KEL law firm. "This is not about the amount of cash you have on hand -- we have enough cash and assets for our business. It has to do with the surplus falling short based on a projection of future claim costs and business expenses."

The Office of Insurance Regulation confirmed it is in talks with K.E.L. Title but would not comment further.

In the state's "Rehab and Liquidation" program, if a title insurer can't pay its claims, the state raises cash to cover them by imposing a statewide surcharge on policies sold by other title insurers. The only way an insurer can emerge from the program intact is to be acquired by another insurer, something that has not happened in the program's history, a regulatory spokeswoman said.

Lynd blamed K.E.L. Title's woes mostly on a South Florida-based title-agency worker whom he accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in escrow money while fabricating real estate sales documents. The title company was blindsided by the scam, he said, which took place more than three years ago but was discovered only this year during certain foreclosure litigation.

The company has paid more than $1.6 million in scam-related claims so far this year alone, according to Lynd, who said the insurer alerted state regulators about the problem.

"It was a systemic theft by this agency's employee," Lynd said. "These incidents took place in 2008 and 2009, but it takes a long time for title claims to surface related to this kind of fraud. We're not the only ones who've been victimized; a lot of title insurers have been impacted by these kinds of scams."

When asked why K.E.L.'s audits had not detected the theft, he insisted that conventional audits would not have turned up such a surprisingly sophisticated scam.

"It would have been impossible to know [sooner] about this kind of theft. I mean, there were fabricated documents that made the transactions look normal on paper," Lynd said. "And there's just not an opportunity for us to review every single closing for all our agents. To some extent, you have to trust they will follow the requirements of their license, to act responsibly and professionally."

K.E.L. Title's explanation drew criticism, however, from one long-time title insurance lawyer.

"If a single agency is able to create enough fraud to bring down an entire company, you've obviously got a huge internal problem," said Cliff Shepard, a veteran real estate lawyer who is also legal counsel for the city of Maitland. "It tells you there weren't adequate controls in place to red-flag this kind of thing in your audits; otherwise, they wouldn't be in this mess."

It is the latest problem for the KEL partners and their real estate-related ventures. Earlier this year, the state ordered the partners' former insurance agency, K.E.L. Title Insurance Agency Inc., to surrender its license for two years to settle allegations it had botched some real estate closings.The partners denied any wrongdoing in that matter.

rburnett@tribune.com or 407-420-5256

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