I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1799 
To amend the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to prohibit 
certain financial benefits for referrals of business and to improve the 
judicial relief for certain violations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 15, 2015 
Mr. ELLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 
1974 to prohibit certain financial benefits for referrals 
of business and to improve the judicial relief for certain 
violations, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensure Fair Prices 
in Title Insurance Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT 
PROCEDURES ACT OF 1974. 
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 
(12 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 8— 
(A) in subsection (c)(4)(C), by striking 
‘‘the only thing of value’’ and all that follows 
through ‘‘ownership interest or franchise rela-
tionship’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘no fee, 
kickback, or thing of value (including any re-
turn on ownership based in whole or part on re-
ferrals paid for or received from an affiliated 
business arrangement) is paid or received pur-
suant to any agreement or understanding, oral 
or otherwise, for referrals of business incident 
to or a part of a real estate settlement service 
involving a federally related mortgage loan’’; 
and 
(B) in subsection (d)— 
(i) by amending paragraph (2) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(2) JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY.—Any person 
or persons who violate the prohibitions or limitations of 
this section shall be jointly and severally liable as follows: 
‘‘(A) To the person or persons charged for the 
settlement service involved in the violation in an 
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amount equal to three times the amount of any 
charge paid for such settlement service. 
‘‘(B) Upon a finding from a court of competent 
jurisdiction that a violation of this section occurred, 
to any person or persons providing substantially 
similar services in the same State where the viola-
tion occurred, in an amount equal to attorneys’ fees 
and court costs incurred in initiating an action 
under this section.’’; and 
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(7) ADDITIONAL RELIEF.—In addition to the 
remedies set forth in this section, a court may order 
one or more of the following types of relief: 
‘‘(A) Injunctive relief. 
‘‘(B) Restitution. 
‘‘(C) Other equitable relief as deemed ap-
propriate by the court.’’; and 
(2) by amending section 16 to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 16. JURISDICTION OF COURTS. 
‘‘Any action pursuant to the provisions of section 6, 
8, or 9 may be brought in the United States district court 
or in any other court of competent jurisdiction, for the 
district in which the property involved is located, or where 
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the violation is alleged to have occurred, within 3 years 
of the date of the occurrence of the violation.’’. 
Æ 
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