Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You cannot sue the title company unless you make a claim under your insurance policy and if it is denied. Title companies are not disclosure companies; they are insurance companies. The title reports are not representations of title, they are offers of insurance. Trust me on this, I was a V.P. and Associate General Counsel for the parent company of Fidelity Natl and Chicago title for a chunk of my career. I had a lot of cases thrown out when people tried to sue claiming we had a duty to disclose things. As for he seller and realtor, you can most certainly sue them, but you will have to prove they knew about the problems and hid them or failed to disclose them. If you can prove that, you will have a good case. To start with, however, file a claim with the title company. If they insured access and it is truly landlocked, and if there is an easement for a city sewer that they did not exclude from the policy, they should be willing to sue on your behalf to get these issues cleared up, and if they can't they will owe you the policy limits.

And as I said, these legal issues are exactly the kind of case I handled almost exclusively for a lot of my career. So if you would like a free half-hour consultation to go over the details of your case and give you some more specific options, I would be happy to see you in my Oakland or Walnut Creek office. Just send me an email or give me a call and I would be happy to give you an appointment.

Before making a claim against the title insurer, I suggest reading the policy. You do not provide any information on the title policy type, and whether or not legal access is or is not excluded under the policy. If the policy told you there was no access, you are going to have a hard time proving nondisclosure against any defendant you sue.