April 30, 2013

52 of 65

When the Teacher Is Ready

Between 2000 and 2004, I had a business called Gilpin Title – a title company primarily serving the mountain areas of Boulder, Gilpin, Clear Creek and Jefferson Counties in Colorado. Most of the larger Denver title companies are reluctant to work in those areas because real property titles are different, and perhaps more complicated, than in the Metro area where there are mainly lots and blocks in subdivisions. The mountain areas were developed by miners and the merchants who followed them, so a title examiner must understand mining claims. There were homesteaders, so he must understand the federal Homestead Act and the Stock Raising Homestead Act. There were towns that arose under federal Townsite Acts.

These more unusual title issues stem from the ways in which land owned by the United States was transferred into private ownership. I was fortunate that I had long been interested in natural resources and had taken law school courses to help me understand the basic legal framework. I had been president of another title company that worked in many of the same mountainous areas. I found that examining the titles of these properties was more interesting than intimidating.

There was a serious downturn in the real estate market during the first months of 2004. The gentleman who was the co-owner of the company, and had the responsibility for the closing and escrow operations, became discouraged and suddenly announced he was leaving the business. I had to quickly decide what phone call I was going to make. Should I call the newspaper to place an ad for a new closer, or should I call someone who might be interested in buying the company?

I was aware of consolidation occurring in the title industry, which made me fear the future was not bright for small companies like Gilpin Title. I knew it was time to sell.

The company which bought our assets, and provided me employment, was First American Heritage Title Company (now known as Heritage Title Company, and which I will refer to as “Heritage”), which had dozens of offices all across the state – and it was merely a subsidiary of a larger corporation. The president of Heritage was Ginny Johnson, whose background was primarily in the closing and escrow end of the business, but was a savvy and creative businesswoman. I felt it was the best of the larger companies in Colorado and I felt good about working with Ginny and her people.

I continued doing title searches and examinations and managing my old office in the mountains, but I did spend a little time at the title plant in Denver to meet my co-workers. Nearly all of them asked, with seeming awe, “Do you really like working on all those mining claims? Isn’t that difficult?”

I discussed the situation with Ginny and Terry Williams, who was the Vice President in charge of title operations, and I ended up preparing a basic one-hour class on title to mining claims for interested personnel in the various offices.

Land Title Association of Colorado (“LTAC”) is a trade organization for Colorado title companies and title insurers. One of my co-workers at Heritage was in charge of LTAC’s semi-annual education program. He asked me if I could expand the mining claims class to a three-hour presentation for that program. I did, and I have taught the class several times – though it changes as I have tried to make it better each time.

In 2005, the American Land Title Association (“ALTA”) announced that the standard title insurance policies used across the United States were undergoing major revisions in 2006. I mentioned to Terry Williams that Heritage should educate its employees about the proposed changes. He asked me if I would take that responsibility.

I began working on a paper comparing the old and new policy forms, with an analysis of the anticipated effects of the various changes. I tried to be succinct, but the paper tuned out to be about 50 pages long. With all due modesty, I believe that paper is destined to become a classic – not in title or insurance circles, but in the treatment of insomnia. I think no one could read page after page after page of discussion about insurance clauses and stay awake.

After I had given policy classes to the Heritage employees, I acceded to another request from LTAC to expand my presentation for its educational program.

Another resource for Colorado title companies and real estate attorneys is Attorneys Title Guaranty Fund (“the Fund”), a bar related title insurance underwriter. Each year it presents a symposium addressing real property issues for its agents and providing continuing legal education credits for any lawyers who wish to attend. I was asked to do a presentation on mining claims for the symposium, and so I did.

A few months later, I mentioned to the organizer of the symposium that I would like to hear someone talk about what “ethics” means in a profession that has no formal code of ethics. I said lawyers have a written code of ethics, doctors have a code, indeed most professions have codes of ethics. The title industry does not have anything that formal, however. He thought that sounded like an interesting topic – and, as I should have anticipated – he agreed to include it as part of the next symposium if I would make the presentation. Again, I did.

I hope that some of the people who attended these and other classes or presentations of mine (there have been others) actually learned something. Although some of the subjects have not been very entertaining – especially the way I teach them – they have certainly been a learning experience for me.

And don’t they say if the teacher is ready, a student will appear? Well, there they were, some of them having paid good money, so I had to start teaching.