Centurion Properties III, LLC v. Chicago Title Insurance

ORDER

This case arises from a dispute between plaintiffs-appellants Centurion Properties III, LLC (“CPIII”) and SMI Group XIV, LLC (“SMI”) (together, “Plaintiffs”), and defendant-appellee Chicago Title Insurance Company (“Chicago Title”) over whether Chicago Title breached a duty of care to Plaintiffs, causing damages, when it recorded unauthorized liens on CPIII’s property. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . The appeal turns on whether a title company owes a duty of care to third parties in these circumstances, which is a potentially dispositive, but unresolved and important question in Washington law. Thus, we respectfully certify to the Washington Supreme Court the following question:

I.

CPIII was formed in 2006 to purchase a tract of real property in Richland, Washington (the “subject property”). SMI, which was owned by Michael Henry (“Henry”), controlled ten percent of CPIII. The remaining ninety percent was owned by entities controlled by Tom Hazelrigg III and his son, Aaron Hazelrigg. CPIII’s managing member upon its formation was an Aaron Hazelrigg-owned company known as Centurion Management III, LLC (“CMIII”), which owned seventy-eight percent of…