Title: Ensure Fair Prices in Title Insurance Act of 2017
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Ensure Fair Prices in Title Insurance Act of 2017
This bill amends the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 to exempt affiliated business arrangements from the prohibitions against kickbacks and unearned fees so long as no fee, kickback, or thing of value (including any return on ownership based on referrals paid for or received from an affiliated business arrangement) is paid or received pursuant to any agreement or understanding for referrals of business incident to or a part of a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan.
Persons who violate such Act shall be jointly and severally liable, upon a finding from a court of competent jurisdiction that such a violation occurred, to any party providing services substantially similar to settlement services in the same state where the violation occurred, and in an amount equal to attorneys' fees and court costs incurred in initiating an action.
A court may grant, in addition to the principal remedies, either injunctive relief, restitution, or other appropriate equitable relief.
The statute of limitations is extended from one year to three years for violation of the prohibitions against: (1) kickbacks and unearned fees, and (2) any requirement by a property seller involving a purchase assisted by a federally related mortgage loan that the buyer also purchase title insurance from any particular title company.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 517 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 517

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

                            January 13, 2017

 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 Representatives 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 2017''.

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 relationship'' and 
                inserting the following: ``no fee, kickback, or thing 
                of value (including any return on ownership based in 
                whole or part on referrals paid for or received from an 
                affiliated business arrangement) is paid or received 
                pursuant 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 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 violation 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 following:
    ``(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 appropriate 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 the violation is alleged to have occurred, within 
3 years of the date of the occurrence of the violation.''.
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