The Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Asssociation last month settled its lawsuit against a company that required home sellers to agree to use specified firms for title and closing agents and title insurance underwriters.

The settlement agreement provides that the seller's attorney must be apprised of the company's selection of agents without delay, and be given the opportunity to cancel the title order for just cause.

In return, IRELA agreed to drop its allegation that the company, One World Title Corp., was engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.

“This is a real victory for the consumer,” said Arlington Heights attorney John G. O'Brien, IRELA's founder and board chair.

“With the new document (Agreement to Procure Title Insurance), the parties now recognize the proper role of lawyers in the process,” O'Brien pointed out. “It's all we wanted in this litigation. Our clients will now be better served.”

IRELA and O'Brien had filed an amended complaint against One World and its president on Aug. 30, 2004, in McHenry County, which was then part of the 19th Circuit (No. 04 CH 232).

The settlement agreement was signed by the parties on March 21, the day before a scheduled trial, and the dismissal order by Judge Maureen P. McIntyre was filed that day.

O'Brien, who is third vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association, had maintained that “The title and closing agent, as well as the title insurance underwriter, provide critical services” in a real estate transaction.

“The choice of who provides those services is, by necessity, a legal question for licensed lawyers to advise their clients,” he said.

IRELA's trial counsel, William J. Anaya of Arnstein & Lehr, noted that the agreement “acknowledges that lawyers have a vital role in the selection where the defendants had previously denied them access.”