Mastering Title Insurance Safeguarding property interests, navigating title commitments, and the clearance process

John T. Lotardo | Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company

John T. Lotardo, aka the “TITLEMAN”™, is Senior Vice President, Director of Operations and National Commercial Counsel for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company. He is the former State Counsel and Senior Underwriter for First American Title Insurance Company for the states of Arizona and Nevada. Prior to that, Mr. Lotardo was senior vice president and general counsel for Stewart Title & Trust of Phoenix Inc., as well as state underwriting and claims counsel for Stewart Title Guaranty Company. As an Arizona licensed attorney, Mr. Lotardo’s practice entails all aspects of real estate, title/escrow and corporate operations. Mr. Lotardo received his Bachelor of Arts with honors and academic distinction from C.W. Post, Long Island University and his Juris Doctorate degree from Arizona State University.

Mr. Lotardo, an active member of the State Bar of Arizona, is a frequent speaker, instructor, retained expert and guest commentator for numerous Escrow, Banking, Realtor® & Title Associations such as ALTA, AEA, ASEA, NEA, AAR, SAR, AMLA, AMBA, among many others. Being past-President of both the Land Title Association of Arizona and the Arizona Trustee Association, he has been a member of many real estate organizations, settlement groups, bankruptcy, lending, foreclosure, legislative, judiciary and corporate organizations locally and nationally. He is a 2016 inaugural recipient of the Arizona Land Title Professional designation and regularly a member on the Arizona Association of Realtors’ Residential & Commercial Contract Workgroups and the Education Advisory Committee for the Department of Real Estate. He is recognized with the Excellence in Underwriting and IMD Hero monikers and a National Title Professional by the ALTA.

Mr. Lotardo is author of numerous articles including the popular “Ask the TITLEMAN”™, which can be found on his website www.askthetitleman.com as well as other sites. He has been a volunteer for Lawyers-On-Call, a public service partnership with Channel 12 News as well appearing on Channel 3’s news show: Money Matters. Being a guest commentator for many publications including the Arizona Republic, InBusiness Magazine, The New Times, among others, Mr. Lotardo has also appeared on Talk Radio for KFNX 1100, KFNN 1510 as well as Java with John. He had been the Editor for the Real Property Journal for the State Bar of Arizona, past-Chair for the Arts and Culture Commission for the City of Phoenix, past-participant for the State Bar’s Speakers Bureau, Mentor for the Women Law Students’ Association, and the Arizona Business Roundtable- an alliance organization between the business community and the Judiciary. Former Governor Napolitano appointed him to the Electronic Recording Commission to develop statewide protocols. He is a “Who’s Who” in the legal community as part of The Business Journal’s Leading Lawyers Program, the Strathmore’s Who’s Who, as well as the Cambridge Who’s Who Registry demonstrating leadership and achievement in the field of real estate. Currently, John is Past Chair and Executive Council Member of the Real Property Section, Executive Council Member of the In-House Counsel Section of the State Bar of Arizona as well as Chair of the Real Estate Advisory Board for the Maricopa County Recorder & recipient of the Black Knight-Ernst Scholarship with the Property Industry Records Association. Lastly, he is Chair of the LTAA Mentorship Program and is a Business Advisory Council member for the Arizona Secretary of State.

Jason C. Bergman | Benchmark Title Agency, LLC

Jason C. Bergman, CRE®, is Vice President and Senior Underwriting Counsel at Benchmark Title Agency, LLC in White Plains, New York. Recognized as an industry leader in insuring foreclosures and distressed assets, he also has extensive experience in assessing and mitigating risk in complex transactions and ambiguous situations.

Among his professional activities, Jason is a Fellow in the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, three-term Chair of the New York State Land Title Association’s Law Committee, Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association Real Estate, Condemnation, and Trust Litigation Committee’s Title Insurance subcommittee, and Co-Chair of its Mortgage and Foreclosure Subcommittee. He also sits on the Editorial Board for the CRE® publication, The Counselor Quarterly Journal, and writes regularly on compelling title, real estate law and practice subjects for multiple publications, including the New York Law Journal.

He is also a Board Member of Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business Customer Experience Program and was a Board Member of Rutgers’ Center for Innovation Education, Professional Science Master’s Degree, Customer Experience Certificate Program.

Jason is a recipient of the CRE® credential from The Counselors of Real Estate, an international consortium of credentialed real estate practitioners who provide expert advice on complex real property and land-related matters.

He received a B.A. in History/Government from Muhlenberg College, and a J.D. from New York Law School.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncbergman-esq-cre/

Session I – Mastering Title Insurance: Safeguarding property interests and navigating title commitments | 11:00am – 12:00pm

• What is Title & Title Insurance?
• Understanding and Scrutinizing a Title Commitment
• Varieties of Title Insurance Policies and Their Protections
• Risks Underwritten, Exclusions, and Policy Conditions
• Strategies for Addressing Exceptions (with Negotiation Insights)

Break | 12:00pm – 12:10pm

Session II – How to Use Your Title Insurance Policy | 12:10pm – 1:10pm

• Title Clearance
• What is Covered?
• Title Claims and Policy Limits