ORS Chapter 731 — Administration and General

ORS 731.438. Title plant requirement for title insurers; posting of indexes; plant ownership and maintenance. (1) A title insurer, in order to receive and maintain a certificate of authority, shall own and maintain at all times a title plant covering a period of at least the immediately preceding 50 years except years before 1960 and consisting of a general index, adequate maps and currently posted tract or geographic indexes for all the lands in the county in which title insurance policies or other title services are to be issued or provided. Either directly or through its insurance producer, a title insurer also shall own and maintain for each additional county in which it shall be authorized to transact a title insurance business a comparable title plant or obtain from a person having a comparable title plant for such additional county or counties title insurance showing the status of the title. (2) The means by which tract or geographic indexes may be currently posted for purposes of subsection (1) of this section include but are not limited to maintenance of the information on ledger sheets, separate cards or sheets of film, whether bound in books or contained in envelopes or storage files, or maintenance of the information on punch cards, computer tape, disc or similar machine compatible form. All title services by a title insurer must be provided in this state. The information upon which the title services are based must be maintained and must be capable of reproduction in this state at all times. (3) Every title insurance transaction by a title insurer or insurance producer involving the status of title of an Oregon title risk shall be based on one or more title plants which: (a) Cover the location of the risk; (b) Meet the requirements of this section; and (c) Are owned and maintained by one or more title insurers or insurance producers as provided in subsections (4), (5) and (6) of this section. (4) For any county with a population of 500,000 or more, or any county with a population of 200,000 or more that is contiguous to a county with a population of 500,000 or more, ownership and maintenance of a title plant shall be as provided in this subsection: (a) The title plant referred to in subsection (1) of this section may be owned and maintained on an exclusive basis or on a joint basis as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection. (b) A title plant is owned and maintained on a joint basis under this subsection if two or more persons own and maintain a portion of the title plant as joint venturers, partners, shareholders or participants in another form of joint, several or common property ownership recognized under the laws of this state. If ownership of a title plant is held by fewer than four title insurers or insurance producers, each share of ownership shall be at least 25 percent. If ownership of a title plant is held by four or more insurers or insurance producers, all shares shall be equal. (5) A title insurer authorized to transact title insurance in this state and every insurance producer of such an authorized title insurer shall own and maintain a title plant. (6) In any county not described in subsection (4) of this section, a title insurer or its insurance producers transacting title insurance business shall solely own a title plant for that county in conformance with subsections (1) and (2) of this section and shall maintain a title plant for that county on an exclusive basis or a joint basis in conformance with subsections (1) and (2) of this section. A title plant for a county is maintained on a joint basis under this subsection if a title insurer or insurance producer obtains current posting information for its tract or geographic indexes from one or more other title insurers or insurance producers or from a provider that is wholly owned in equal shares by the title insurers or insurance producers utilizing the providers services.