Posts Tagged ‘Tools’

Legal Expense

legal expense

Former KB Home CEO sentenced to home detention
Former head of KB Home Bruce Karatz was sentenced to eight months home detention on Wednesday, much lower than what the government had requested in one of its highest profile prosecutions of illegal stock option backdating.

Prepaid Legal Tools

prepaid legal tools

07/05/2004 Friday 7 May, Denver Water Users ARE 2004 after casting restrictions this year because of the low mountain snowpack, but Estes Park residents continue to receive adequate, according to public works director Bill Linnane.

Litigation Help

litigation help

Hi, Im stuck please help, “Explain the issues facing businesses which need to resort to litigation in the UK?”?

Get a dictionay and look up all the hard words.

Litigation Graphics

litigation graphics

Nvidia or Intel? Which company would you side with?

Let’s not fool ourselves; all corporations are blood-sucking, vicious, cold-blooded, money-guzzling machines.

nvidia and intel are engaged on another battlefield…and a far more important one: mobile computing. Intel last tried mobile computing when they acquired their XScale division from DEC (late 90s). They screwed that up and sold the division to Marvell. Now they know they must take another whack at it (their atom line). The PC/server market is huge, but there is no growth in that market. Mobile is where the growth is. Companies like:

nvidia (tegra-ARM based). like what’s in the new zune
qualcomm (snapdragon-ARM based). like what’s going to be in a lot of smartbooks and smartphones next year and end of this year
TI (their OMAP series-ARM based)
intel (atom-x86)

and among them, i bet on the ARM licensees above – ARM and their tech licensees get embedded/low-power processor design (it’s what they’ve always done). intel on the other hand is coming from another world (one where you plug into the wall and are not concerned with MIPs/mW).

Magma Design Automation Joins Si2's Design to Manufacturing Coalition AUSTIN, Texas —- The Silicon Integration Initiative announced today that Magma Design Automation ®, to a provider of chip design software, is the newest member of Si2's Design to Manufacturing Coalition.

Best Litigation Software

best litigation software
What does “”judicious use of customer litigation” means?

Here is the complete sentence;

A judicious use of customer litigation is the opposite of bad ethics, or a “watery code” of ethics, and an evolving professional code of conduct would apply also to that opposite meaning. Apparently, the person who you are quoting thinks that developers of software do not have good ethics.

Trinity Technologies -Litigation Document Management Software

A Lot Of Outsourcing Service Providers To Chose From. How To Choose The Best One?

The global arena is one of unified information and communication today. Enhanced technology has made the world a global village and now exclusive and offshore companies are empowered to act as an extension of the main business. With the help of outsource software development vendors it is easy to lure to big game hunters from the international business rostrum into your company’s interests. The processing handled by the outsourcing or BPO(Business Process Outsourcing) industry takes any small or medium scale business into the global foray.

Investigate and then identify:

You can now give your business the marketing and sales edge by investing in software development India outsourcing relationships. Not only does the firm benefit from 24×7 cover; but is also secure and safe from risks commonly associated with lack of cautionary planning. When shopping around for the best outsourcing service provider you should look into the company’s ability to address advance screening and fieldwork. It helps to identify the best software outsourcing partner from the listed companies of repute and long term standing marketability.

As a corporate client you should make your demands on the outsourcing services for software development. You should nose around online as well as offline for a service provider who partners your business interests. The company should be geared to handle and minimize middle-management attrition. The shortlisted outsourcing company should also be able to avoid delay and security issues that arise out of employee turnover. The head hunt is easy – look for a company that is well-managed and cost effective, preferably in India, where people are known to stick on for respect more than the money. It is better to evade the young firms and hunt out the medium-sized software development firms that give you an assurance with that respect.

Be picky – it is your business health in question!

These are usually the ones replete with reputation and history in the industry and armed with experienced human resources management teams. They are the ones that rank in recruiting processes, supported by technology and HR strategies to optimize employee selection and capitalize on the local labor pool. The overall aim of the outsource software development company or the software development team allotted to your company should be the success of your operations. It is imperative to remember that a good outsourcing company will always display professional indemnity insurance and assurance on no social indemnity over temporary software team dismissal. You should only sign on the dotted line after investigating the litigation overruling the likelihood of Errors and Omissions and Commercial General Liability(CGL). The company chosen for outsourced software development, should be result oriented and one that offers pilot project runs to earn your trust, atleast a few free hours, over the first one week. The in house team should be able to determine market feasibility of your company and identify possible variables. The provider’s compatibility and capability should be part of a transparent business service. The partnering software development company should also be one that adds value to the dynamic consumer environment you set up within your real time business arena.

Identifying the best:

Identifying the best from an array of software development outsourcing service providers is easy if you have your interests in sync with the industry-specific and latest software architectures and platforms. The set up should meet your business demands with regards to IT communications infrastructure, process engineering and deployment of professional management systems. A good software development vendor will track with you and not ahead of you and the company’s operations, while consistently maintaining communication and devising monitoring proprietary technologies

Incoming search terms for the article:

• best litigation software

Litigation Timeline Software

litigation timeline software

Steps to Select the Right Outsourcing Vendor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Step 1: Define your objectives and goals
• Step 2: Find out all you need to know about the vendor – Plan the RFI
• Step 3: Prepare the RFP
• Step 4: Due Diligence
• Step 5 (Optional): Test Project
• Step 6: Choose the vendor
• Conclusion

 

Introduction
The process of selecting an outsourcing vendor implies a complex multistage process to evaluate not only what the provider can do, but also the way it’s done.
First of all it’s important know that this process can and should take some time. Sometimes, this means months.
A well-organized vendor selection usually takes between 6 and 12 months and can ramp up the total cost of the project with approx. 1-10%. (For further information on this, read the “Real cost of Outsourcing†white paper).
Costs associated with this phase include analysis and documentation of requirements; creation, distribution and evaluation of RFPs (Request for Proposals); negotiations of contracts; development of SLAs (service level agreements); pay of external players: consultants, lawyers etc.
Therefore, the selection of vendor is not a process to be rushed. Companies should follow a well-established methodology that defines each step of the trip. After all, the final goal is to end up with the best service provider for delivering the desired outcome.

Step 1: Define your objectives and goals
This is a basic step for all future outsourcing activities. You have to describe the process, service or product that you want outsourced clearly. You should also indicate what your goals are through outsourcing.
Another one of the first things you should do is gather a core team to evaluate vendors and participate in negotiations. The team should consist of individuals from various parts of the company, such as executives from affected business departments, legal staff and human resources responsible.
Make sure you include the answer to the following questions in formulating your objectives:

• What do you want to outsource?
• What type of an outsourcing agreement are you looking for?
• What are the offshore outsourcing locations that you are interested in?
• What are your goals in outsourcing?
• What services do you expect a vendor to provide?
• How much do you plan to spend?
• What are the risks associated with such an outsourcing agreement?

The team’s first task should be to define the high-level requirements of the outsourcing engagement. For instance, if the goal for outsourcing is to reduce costs, the organization should state it openly and leverage this process to explore ways to achieve that goal. The next step is to benchmark the current process against others in the industry. Drawing “before” and “after” process maps is a great exercise that helps companies explain where they are today and show where they want the outsourcer to take them.
Next, it’s critical that the core team determines the right type of services to be outsourced. There are many different kinds of work outsourced. However all of these outsourcing services fall in two broad categories, technology services outsourcing and business process outsourcing.
Technology Services Outsourcing
The fast emerging business world of today requires companies to use sophisticated and fast computer systems and software. These technologies and systems also need to be scalable and highly adaptive. Therefore it is imperative to choose the right associate for developing these technologies. Here are some of the different categories that come under technology services.

• ecommerce
• Network/ Infrastructure
• Software/ Applications development
• Telecom
• Web Development and Hosting

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
The new global scenario requires that each company finds its own niche field that can add value to the world economy. Thus companies now try to focus their resources on areas that give maximum yield. As a spin off of this trend, service providers who focus on narrow business providers these enterprises need also emerged. Thus the term Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) came into being around 1995. The proliferation of the Internet andi ts emergence as a business tool helped to make BPO highly popular.
Below are the sub categories of services that come under BPO.

• Customer Relations/ Customer Contact Management
• Finance/ Accounting Processes
• Logistics
• Equipment Management
• Security
• Supply Chain/ Procurement Management

Step 2: Find out all you need to know about the vendor – Plan
the RFI
The Request for Information (RFI) provides material for the first rounds of vendor evaluations. Organizations generally use the RFI to validate vendor interest and to evaluate the business climate in the organization’s industry. As opposed to a highly specific, formal Request for Proposal (RFP), the RFI encourages vendors to respond freely. It also spells out the business requirements defined by the core team, so the vendor understands what the company is trying to accomplish.

• request for information is just that – requesting information
• It is usually issued to acquire information on what is available, from whom and what approximate cost before writing an RFP that is based on real information rather than wishful thinking.
• Typically, vendors will not respond to an RFI unless the effort to do so is not excessive and there is an expectation that an order or at least an RFP will follow.
• Contents of RFI
• The type of information usually sought by RFI’s includes things such as:
• o The availability of equipment or needed services.
• o The approximate one time and recurring costs.
• o The differentiating factors between the goods or services proposed and similar offerings from other vendors.
• The latter is very useful in providing information to help determine mandatory and desirable

characteristics to be included in an RFP.
After vendors return the questionnaire, the issuing company matches the vendors’ responses to the company’s requirements and weights the criteria based on importance. Providers that don’t meet stated needs or haven’t responded to the specific questions are eliminated.
Eventually, the RFI process helps companies make the “go or no go” decision—that is, the choice to proceed with or walk away from a project. The data solicited identifies the availability and viability of outsourcing, cost estimate ranges, and risks. It also provides detail useful for developing project requirements.

Step 3: Prepare the RFP
The third step is to develop the RFP; send it to at least three short-listed suppliers; evaluate them; and, of course, select the best ones.
The RFI and RFP are complementary. Information collected during the RFI process can prepare the solutionrequirements section of the related RFP. You should have by now a better understanding of project scope and requirements, as well as a list of qualified suppliers. Leveraging the information-gathering focus of the RFI will lead to a concise RFP that articulates the business needs.
The RFP outlines the engagement’s requirements—relevant skill sets, language skills, intellectual property protection, infrastructure, and quality certifications—and gives prospective vendors the information necessary to prepare a bid. The responsibility of developing the RFP rests with the project’s sourcing leader, but various aspects of the document will require input from other domain experts.
A good RFP includes one section that states what the company seeks (business requirements) and four sections that ask about the vendor and what it will be able to provide:

• Business requirements. In brief, this section details the company’s project goal, deliverables, performance and fulfillment requirements, and liquidity damages.
• Vendor profile. External service providers differ greatly in performance, style, and experience. This part of the RFP details the vendor’s stability, services, and reputation.
• Vendor employee information. This section addresses the resources assigned at the project management, middle management, team leader, and task levels, along with the quality of people, their skills, training, compensation, and retention. If your company ranks technical skills highest should look at technical expertise before examining costs.
• Vendor methodology. The methodology segment details project management, quality, regulatory compliance andsecurity.
• Infrastructure. This part outlines the vendor’s infrastructure stability and disaster-recovery abilities.

Step 4: Due Diligence
After vendors have sent their RFP responses, you begin the evaluation.
Usually, vendors propose different strategies when they respond to an RFP. They may suggest a sole provider, co sourcing, or multisourcing scenario, in which one, two, or several vendors, respectively, deliver the service to the company. Regardless of the structure, if the proposal meets the stated requirements, each vendor must then undergo a due diligence review.
Due diligence supports or invalidates the information the vendor supplied on processes, financials, experience and performance. It helps you determine what the provider can do right now, as opposed to what it might do if given the business. Due diligence should confirm the information supplied in the RFP and address the following data:

• Company profile, strategy, mission and reputation
• Financial status – reviews of audited financial statements
• Customer references – preferably from similar outsourced processes
• Management qualifications, including criminal background checks
• Process expertise, methodology and effectiveness
• Quality initiatives and certifications
• Technology, infrastructure stability and applications
• Security and audit controls
• Legal and regulatory compliance, including any outstanding complaints or litigation
• Use of subcontractors
• Insurance
• Disaster recovery, security and business continuity policies

Pay attention also to employee policies, attrition, service attitudes and management values; the company and the vendor need to fit together culturally.
You should evaluate the vendor’s project management competency, the level of success achieved, the quality and standards of work delivered, adherence to contract terms, and the communication process. Reliable, ongoing communications, especially in offshore outsourcing is very important; potential pitfalls can result from infrequent or vague communications. For instance, if the onshore company doesn’t clearly communicate deliverables and timelines, offshore resources might not be allocated correctly and may endanger completing the project on time.
Sometimes you must perform due diligence on more than one of the vendors that respond. The length and formality of the due diligence process varies according to companies’ experience with outsourcing, the timeline or implementing outsourcing, the risk, and familiarity with the vendor.

Step 5 (Optional): Test Project

Some companies can even conduct test projects to ensure a good fit between the company and the vendor.These tests allow companies to review the vendor’s project management process for efficiency and effectiveness. Specifically, they look at whether project execution is completed within guidelines, whether deliverables are timely and whether the vendor has adhered to defined quality standards. Tests serve as a good method for companies to check and review the facts before making a final vendor decision.

Test projects also let companies experience the benefits of outsourcing before jumping into a long-term relationship. Often, companies will conduct a “proof of concept” (POC) with a couple of vendors to compare results and, after evaluation, choose the best one. A good method to select the best vendor is by taking the top two vendors from the RFP process and having them complete the same test project. This will demonstrate their project management capabilities, communication style, and ability to meet deadlines for deliverables. Many companies are using POCs as test beds before offshoring larger projects.

Step 6: Choose the Vendor
Eventually, the biggest step in the process of selection is picking a service provider to manage business processes and applications. Making the final decision means signing a contract that clearly defines the performance measures, team size, team members, pricing policies, business continuity plans and overall quality of work standards.

Conclusion
Last, but not least, remember that outsourcing is a long-term relationship, and choosing the right vendor is crucial to meeting your technology, business and financial objectives. If you base your decision on following the steps above, you will eliminate the risks of engaging in a wrongly-selected affiliation that can not only fail to improve your business, but even do harm.

Litigation Support Training

litigation support training
what is the salary of a director of litigation technology support?

someone that manages the technology aspects of cases from the harvesting of data to coding indexing and databasing. all the way to training people how to use concordance and performing searches and presenting materials at depos and trials

Much will depend on exactly where you are seeking employment. You may wish to try Salary.com:

http://www.salary.com/home/layoutscripts/homl_display.asp

This will allow you to enter the postion and the location to receive a salary range report.

Hope this helps!

Part One of Two- Litigation Support Software by Dean McAdams

Counter Terrorism Training and Anti Terrorism Training: a Blended Approach is Key

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) recently held a briefing with top counter terrorism and Middle East policy researchers and experts on the future of Iraq and the Obama administration. Many of these experts agreed that the U.S. troop withdrawal plan over the next few years must rely upon both continued Iraqi security force training to improve regional stability as well as the development and reconstruction of Iraqi civil society. One could call the military-based approach an exercise in counter terrorism training for Iraqi security forces, whereas the development based approach includes anti terrorism training for Iraqis. The Iraqi government, security services, and greater population will require both counter terrorism training and anti terrorism training, which brings one to question what exactly is the difference between anti terrorism and counter terrorism and how can U.S. policy best incorporate both types into an effective strategy in other countries as well as its own terrorism prevention policy.

Counter terrorism operations are a tactical approach used by governments, militaries, local law enforcement, and other parties towards dealing with terrorists. Counter terrorism includes applying intelligence and using force to eliminate terrorists, and is essentially a strategy of repression or suppression. The U.S. military defines counter terrorism as “operations that include the offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, preempt, and respond to terrorism.” (Joint Publication 1-02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms; U.S. Department of Defense ; 12 July 2007) The short term goal of counter terrorism policy is not to eliminate root causes of terrorism, but to bring the current crisis under control. Continued counter terrorism training of Iraqi security forces is an integral component for a timely withdrawal of U.S. troops, as Iraqi security officers need to prepare to deal tactically with Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and other subversive forces on the ground. Experts from the USIP briefing suggested key steps related to counter terrorism policy for the new administration should include the continued training and equipping of Iraqi security forces, among other efforts. (USIP briefing; “Iraq in the Obama Administration,” December 2008) Continued Iraqi security and reconstruction, however, is also dependent upon anti terrorism training.

While similar and often incorrectly interchanged with the term “counter terrorism,” anti terrorism is a strategic, long- term effort towards reducing and altogether halting terrorism by focusing on root causes and seeking to change the environment which fosters terrorism. “Anti terrorism tactics consist of gathering information and disseminating it broadly, promoting public discourse, lobbying policy makers to encourage violence reduction policies and legislation, conducting civil litigation against terrorist actors, and organizing social institutions to accomplish these functions. Anti terrorism is a strategy of expanding democracy to eliminate the causes and resources enabling terrorism.”(Paul de Armond; “Rock, Paper, Scissors: Counter Terrorism, Anti Terrorism, and Terrorism,” Public Good Occasion Paper #6, 1997) Experts suggest that the U.S. government must continue to lobby for a settlement between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government, develop a strategy for national elections, and support peaceful power transitions – all efforts that can be categorized as anti terrorism training. (USIP briefing, December 2008)

The suggestions made by terrorism and Middle East experts for a successful and timely withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq illustrate the importance of a blended approach towards dealing with terrorism in Iraq, across the globe, and within the U.S. Anti terrorism and counter terrorism strategies are jointly important for the United States’ continued success in preventing and eliminating the terrorist threat in the present and in the future. This blended approach highlights the importance of developing policies under the rubric of strategic security, which is the multi disciplinary, global view of past, present, and future security issues that permits the timely accumulation of accurate, objective knowledge. Strategic security thinking is vital for the continued safety and protection of the U.S., as well as states around the globe.

Legal Expenses

legal expenses

How to Get Vioxx Lawsuit Funding – Legal Cash Advance?

Plaintiffs involved in Vioxx, Fen-Phen and Zyprexa product liability lawsuits do not realize they can now get legal cash advance or lawsuit funding, while they are waiting for their lawsuit settlement money. It is called lawsuit funding and often referred as lawsuit loan, legal cash advance, legal finance, legal financing, litigation financing, pending lawsuit loan, lawsuit cash advance and lawsuit advance funding.

Vioxx is a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) developed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, acute pain conditions, and dysmenorrhoea. Vioxx was approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 20, 1999. Vioxx was supposed to be the super aspirin and block buster arthritis drug that would relieve pain safely.

On September 30, 2004, the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. had pulled Vioxx from the market following study results confirming earlier concerns that Vioxx increases the risk of cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks and stroke.

Vioxx was sold around the world and in all it was taken by about 20m people. A large percentage of these people suffered drastic side effects including blood clots, heart attacks, and stroke. Nearly 4,200 individual and class action Vioxx lawsuits were filed in U.S.A.

Vioxx lawsuits fall under a category known as products liability, claiming that the manufacturers of Vioxx (Vioxx lawsuit defendants) or their distributors knew that the drug could cause harm. Merck has reserved $970 million to pay for its Vioxx-related legal expenses through 2007.

It does not seem fair for the plaintiffs, that even if they would win their Vioxx settlement lawsuit, they may lose because too little settlement money comes in too late. They need money now. Most of the plaintiffs, because of their medical conditions have missed work or lost their jobs. They have to pay their mortgage/ rent, medical bills, car payments and other monthly bills. Unfortunately their options are very limited.

But now this new risk free Vioxx lawsuit settlement funding or litigation financing program is great help to Vioxx product liability lawsuit plaintiffs. With a legal cash advance or pending lawsuit loan, on your Vioxx lawsuit settlement, you reduce the financial and emotional stress on you and your family.

But in true sense, these are not loans because the money does not have to be paid back unless the case is won or settled. These are non- recourse legal cash advances. It carries no risk because Vioxx product liability lawsuit plaintiffs pay only when they get their Vioxx settlement money from Defendant Company.

Litigation financing or so called Lawsuit loan can help them buy some time with a legal cash advance on their Vioxx product liability lawsuit settlement.

Vioxx Lawsuit Funding or Lawsuit Loan: How does it work?

There are many advantages of Vioxx lawsuit funding or litigation financing Program. The process to receive lawsuit loan or legal cash advance is risk free & simple. There are no monthly payments. The total process is confidential, prompt and discreet.

1. Making an application for lawsuit funding or pending lawsuit loan is free and there is no obligation. A good and reputed litigation financing company should not charge any upfront fee or any application fee, processing fee or any monthly fee.

2. Plaintiff may have a bad or no credit. No employment requirement is required to apply for a lawsuit loan or lawsuit funding.

3. Quick and thorough underwriting process to qualify client (some times in 6-8 hours).

4. If approved for lawsuit funding or legal cash advance, funds are wired into your bank account, the same day. Of course, you can take a bank check also.

5. Plaintiff payback upon successful settlement/verdict of case.

6. If plaintiff loses case, plaintiff owes nothing to litigation financing or lawsuit funding company.

They can use the lawsuit loan or legal cash advance in any way they like. They can use the money for living expenses; pay their bills, mortgage/ rent / car payments, medical treatment, education expenses. As a matter of fact use it any way they like.

About the Author

Paul Sherman is a Legal Funding Consultant.He offers free, professional, and independent advice to plaintiffs (incl. business owners) & Attorneys. To get
Lawsuit Loan & Structured settlement funding please visit http://www.easylawsuitfunding.com

May a corp. deduct the legal fees in a stock transfer between a 100% shareholder and to a minority shareholder?

The 100% shareholder transferred all shares to the minority shareholder. Are the legal expenses incurred in drafting the transfer agreement the responsibility of the individual shareholder?

Yes it can.

Litigation Process Canada

litigation process canada
West Newbury government at a glance
West Newbury Board of Selectmen July 28, 2010 APPROVED Going into two executive sessions, one prior to the scheduled open session to discuss police and dispatch contract negotiations and one at the end of the public meeting to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and to make edits to minutes from a closed-door session on May 26 (3-0).
Will Challenge Litigation – Part 5

Bill 152: Ontario’s Response to Real Estate Fraud

Real estate fraud has been a hot topic in Ontario recently. There have been a number of stories reported in the Toronto area where innocent homeowners have had their title transferred to fraudsters and/or have had fraudulent mortgages registered on title to their properties. There was a particularly alarming case reported last year in the Toronto Star where an elderly homeowner had his property transferred to a fraudster and then subsequently transferred to an innocent third party purchaser without his knowledge. Given the state of the law in Ontario at that particular time, the gentleman ended up losing title to the property and he had to make an application to the Land Titles Assurance Fund (the “Fund”) to seek compensation. We will discuss the Fund later.

There are more than two million real estate transactions that occur in this province every year and the instances of real estate fraud are relatively low. That said, the province and in particular, the Ministry of Government Services, have taken the position that any level of fraud is unacceptable. The value of these fraudulent transactions are generally very high as they relate to either title to registered property or mortgage amounts that are in to the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The innocent victims in these cases are the existing homeowners who lost their property and/or financial institutions whose mortgage security is invalid.

There are generally two types of real estate fraud. The most common form of real estate fraud is what is known as title fraud in which case a fraudster using a stolen identity or forged documents transfers title of a registered owner to himself or herself without the owner’s knowledge. The fraudster then obtains a mortgage from a financial institution using the fake identification of the current owner. Funds are advanced under the mortgage and the fraudster disappears. The homeowner ends up receiving notices that his or her mortgage payments with an unknown mortgage company are in default. The existing homeowner contacts his lawyer who conducts a subsearch of the property and determines that in fact there is a mortgage registered on title and that the property is no longer in the name of the original homeowner.

The second type of fraud is what is known as mortgage fraud. The most common form of this mortgage fraud is a “value flip” in which fraudsters flip a property to one another artificially inflating the value of the property. Upon the value of the most recent transaction, the current owner applies for a mortgage. The fraudster will generally apply for a low value mortgage or secured line of credit on the property knowing that the lending institution will not require an appraisal or walkthrough for credit approval purposes. The result is a mortgager greatly exceeding the true value of the property. As such, there is no equity remaining in the property, the fraudsters disappear and the mortgage lender is forced to foreclose or power of sale on the property and recover substantially less than their mortgage advance.

The most interesting policy issue to address in the case of mortgage fraud is how to apportion loss amongst two innocent parties. In virtually every mortgage fraud or title fraud situation there are two innocent parties. There is generally the innocent homeowner who has had no knowledge that his or her property has been transferred to a fraudster and/or subject to a fraudulent mortgage and then there is the innocent purchaser or innocent mortgagee who is lending on the basis of the fraudster’s representations. In all cases, the fraudster has generally disappeared with the funds and the two innocent parties end up waging war over the most valuable asset that remains, the real property. In most cases, either the innocent homeowner or the mortgagee/innocent purchaser ends up obtaining registered title to the property and the other innocent party is forced to resort to the Fund. The Fund is established under Section 57 of the Land Titles Act (Ontario) and allows for a person to apply for compensation for certain loses suffered as a result of real estate fraud and other matters. The process has always been very arduous and time consuming for applicants, often resulting in minimal recovery for innocent parties. More on this later as we address the revamped Fund pursuant to Bill 152.

So what is being done to stop identity theft? Bill 152 is the province’s legislative response to increasing incidents of real estate fraud. We will discuss the Bill in more detail later. However, practically speaking, lending institutions, existing homeowners and solicitors are all becoming more diligent now than ever in relation to preventing real estate fraud. Parties to real estate transactions have started to realize that this is an increasingly important issue. As most real estate fraud is related to identify theft or fraudulent identities, all parties now are becoming more diligent in relation to reviewing, obtaining and ascertaining the identity of parties to a real estate transaction either from a purchase and sale perspective or from a mortgage lending perspective. The Law Society of Upper Canada has recently issued new guidelines governing the real estate profession so that two real estate lawyers must be involved on every real estate transaction, subject to some limited exceptions.

THE LAW IN ONTARIO

The three competing models of real property title are deferred indefeasibility, immediate indefeasibility and “nemo dat”. The law in Ontario for well over a century has been the deferred indefeasibility model of title. Before I explain the current law in Ontario (which is now deferred indefeasibility), I will explain to you the other two competing doctrines.

The doctrine of immediate indefeasibility means that once a transfer of title to a purchaser is registered that title is good and is not subject to challenge even if there were previous fraudulent conveyances in the chain of title. Of course if the purchaser had actual knowledge of previous fraud, then your title is not good however, in all other cases you can rely on the parcel register for the property to ensure that you are obtaining good title. The law of immediate indefeasibility places all the risk on the current owner in that if a fraudulent transfer is registered, the original homeowner who had no knowledge of the fraud would be required to make an application to the Fund for compensation . The innocent purchaser/mortgagee gets good title. The law of immediate indefeasibility was approved by the Ontario Court of Appeal in a case of Liu v. Household Realty Corp. (Ontario Court of Appeal 2005) (“Household Realty Corp.”). This decision disrupted over a hundred years of previous case law which had ruled that deferred indefeasibility was the existing law in Ontario.

“Nemo dat quod non habet” is another competing doctrine which has been thoroughly rejected in Ontario throughout the years. “Nemo dat” means that one cannot give that which one does not have. In effect, under this model if a conveyance is made to you by someone who did not have the right to convey the property because of a previous fraud, your title is void even though you had no knowledge of the fraud. In this particular case, one would have to investigate the entire series of property conveyances throughout the years in order to determine that no fraud had been purported previously. This rule goes against the purpose of the Land Titles Act (Ontario) which is that one should be able to rely on the parcel register as to the current state of title to a property. The law of “Nemo dat” has been discussed in a number of recent cases involving mortgage fraud but has been rejected in all court decisions.

As mentioned above, the law in Ontario up to the time of the Household Realty Corp. decision was that of deferred indefeasibility. Pursuant to this doctrine, once a transfer is made to an innocent purchaser or a mortgage is registered in favour of an innocent lender from a fraudster, those entities have the right to convey good title to a third party however, the original purchaser or mortgagee (the “Intermediary”) may or may not have good title depending on the circumstances. If title is not transferred to a third party from the Intermediary and the fraud is discovered, the original homeowner will have title restored to them and the Intermediary will have to resort to the Fund for compensation. The rationale is that the immediate party to the fraud, the Intermediary, has the best opportunity to detect and prevent the fraudulent transfer/mortgage and therefore they should be the party bearing the risk. The Ontario Court of Appeal in the case of Lawrence v. Wright (Ontario Court of Appeal 2007) reversed its own decision in Household Realty Corp. and therefore, rejected the doctrine of immediate indefeasibility. In this particular case, an innocent homeowner lost title to imposters who conveyed her home to a fictitious person who in turn mortgaged the home and disappeared with the proceeds. At trial, the original homeowner lost her fight with the mortgage company and the mortgage was deemed to be valid. The original homeowner lost title to the property. The Ontario Court of Appeal reversed this ruling and determined that the original homeowner would have title to the property restored to her and the mortgage company would have to resort to the Fund for compensation. The Court held that the mortgage company was in the best position to detect the fraud (i.e. identify the imposter) and prevent it from occurring.

BILL 152

Bill 152 received royal assent on December 20, 2006 and has been enacted as chapter 34 of the Statues of Ontario. The act amends a number of statutes including the Land Registration Reform Act, Land Titles Act and Registry Act. The majority of the amendments relate to issues relating to real estate fraud. Bill 152 is the Ontario government’s response to the growing problem of real estate fraud in Ontario. Generally speaking, ownership of a property now cannot be lost as a result of the registration of a fraudulent mortgage, transfer or counterfeit Power of Attorney. The new Bill deems that any of these fraudulent instruments will not have any effect on title and can be deleted from the parcel register for a property as the order of the Director of Titles. Bill 152 also improves the ability of the Director of Titles to rectify issues of suspected fraud and the Director of Titles can register cautions on title or prevent any dealings with properties in cases where fraud is suspected. Bill 152 also permits the Director of Titles to suspend the authorization of any person submitting documents if fraudulent transactions are suspected. Bill 152 also streamlines the procedure for an application to the Fund because as addressed above, there is always an innocent party that will be resorting to the Fund in the case of real estate fraud. Applications to the Fund, instead of taking years, are expected to be resolved in only a matter of months. Finally, the penalties for fraud related offences have been increased under both the Land Titles Act and the Registry Act from $1,000.00 to $50,000.00 and imprisonment for up to two years. Corporations can be fined up to $250,000.00. Finally, Bill 152 most importantly reintroduced by statute the law of deferred indefeasibility as it relates to real property in Ontario.

TITLE INSURANCE

The changes made pursuant to Bill 152 are important. But how can you as a homeowner or mortgagee protect against real estate fraud? Obtaining title insurance coverage for residential real estate transactions has become the norm in the past few years. Your title insurance company gives you excellent protection in relation to fraud related matters. For instance, your title insurer has a duty to defend your title, which will include paying your litigation costs associated with defending your title should a fraud issue arise. Also, if you lose title by way of a fraudulent conveyance or your title is subject to a fraudulent charge, the insurer has an obligation to pay to rectify title in most cases. The most important thing about title insurance is that you have coverage from the time you acquire the property going forward. If you are a homeowner prior to the advent of title insurance, all major title insurers offer what is known as an existing owner’s policy. This type of policy gives you coverage for fraud on a go-forward basis. In all cases, it is important to discuss your particular situation with a lawyer to see how best to protect against the growing problem of real estate fraud.

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