Opinion ID: 215429
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: New Mexico Title Insurance Act

Text: In New Mexico, the business of title insurance [is] totally regulated by the state to provide for the protection of consumers and purchasers of title insurance policies and the financial stability of the title insurance industry. N.M. Stat. Ann. § 59A-30-2(B) (2004) (amended 2009). [2] Through the Title Insurance Act, N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 59A-30-1 through 59A-30-15 (Act), the New Mexico legislature provide[s] a comprehensive body of law for the effective regulation and active supervision of the business of title insurance transacted within the state. Id. § 59A-30-2(A). The Act requires the state superintendent of insurance, after conducting a public hearing at least once each year, to establish premium rates insurers can charge for title insurance. See id. §§ 59A-30-4, 59A-30-6, 59A-30-8. [3] Those rates shall not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory and shall contain an allowance permitting a profit that is not unreasonable in relation to the riskiness of the business of title insurance. Id. § 59A-30-6(C). A person aggrieved by an order of the superintendent promulgating rates under the [Act] shall have the right[] first to an administrative appeal before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) and then to review in state court. Id. §§ 59A-17-34 to -35, 59A-30-9. The superintendent also establishes what coverage a title insurer can offer; and the Act mandates that title insurers use only forms promulgated by the superintendent to offer that coverage. See id. §§ 59A-30-4, 5; see also Lisanti v. Alamo Title Ins. of Tex., 132 N.M. 750, 55 P.3d 962, 964 (2002). See generally N.M.Code R. § 13.14.18 (setting forth title insurance forms). New Mexico's pervasive regulation of title insurance differs significantly from its regulation of other types of insurance under its general insurance code. [I]n general, New Mexico's Insurance Code permit[s] and encourage[s] ... independent action by and reasonable price competition among insurers as an effective way to produce rates that are not excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory. N.M. Stat. § 59A-17-3(A)(1)-(2). Regarding premium rates for other types of insurance, the Insurance Code provides that [r]ates shall not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory, nor shall an insurer charge any rate which if continued will have or tend to have the effect of destroying competition or creating a monopoly. Id. § 59A-17-6(A) (2004). Generally, the Insurance Code requires insurers to file their premium rates with the superintendent of insurance, and then to abide by those filed rates, which the superintendent must approve. See id. §§ 59A-17-9, 59A-17-12-13. Importantly, however, the New Mexico Insurance Code expressly does not apply to title insurers, except to the extent that the Title Insurance Act provides otherwise. See id. § 59A-1-15(H) (No provision of the Insurance Code shall apply to... title insurers and title insurance agents, as identified in Chapter 59A, Article 30 NMSA 1978, except as stated in that article.); see also id. § 59A-1-17 (Provisions of the Insurance Code relative to a particular kind of insurance or type of insurer or particular matter shall prevail over provisions relating to insurance in general or insurers in general or to such matter in general.). While the Title Insurance Act has explicitly incorporated a variety of provisions of the Insurance Code, it has not incorporated Article 17's provisions promoting competition among insurers. [4] See id. § 59A-30-14.