Consolidation or Worse?

The following appeared in Inman at the link provided below:

http://blog.inman.com/inmanblog/2008/01/siesmic-rumblin.html

Last month, California's Alliance Title threw clients (not to mention its own employees) for a loop by closing the doors of its offices without warning. Today, I've been checking out rumors that Mercury Companies Inc. -- the parent of Alliance and sister companies Financial Title and Investors Title -- may be preparing to pull out of the state altogether.

Here's what I've found: although the phones weren't working at Financial Title's corporate headquarters this morning, I eventually got a callback from a company executive who said Financial Title began winding down its operations in Southern California in October, and had wrapped the process up by Dec. 31.

Financial Title executive vice president Sandi Sigg told me the company's core market is Northern California, where "all of our offices remain open, and we are doing really well." Some Financial Title employees in southern California were hired by Alliance Title and Investors Title, Sigg said, and others went to work for Nations Title, taking accounts and clients with them. Nations Title took over some of Financial Title's offices, even keeping their phone numbers in some instances, she said.

At Investors Title, an employee at the company's San Bernardino office said the company is consolidating operations in Glendale. Division president and Los Angeles County manager Chris White's voicemail said he was in the office today, but he didn't return my call. The company's Web site says it's licensed to do business in six counties, but contact info for offices in San Diego and Ventura counties has been removed from the site.

My call to a spokeswoman for Mercury Companies was not returned (they didn't have anything to say in December, either, when Alliance Title shut down). Interestingly, the compay's Web site was also down today.

Meanwhile, Old Republic Title Company also appears to be closing or consolidating its SoCal offices in Glendale. When I called Old Republic offices today in Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Indian Wells, Lancaster, Ontario, Redlands, San Diego and Westlake Village, I either got a voice mail message saying the offices were closed and open files had been forwarded to the Glendale office, or, in a couple of instances, my calls were just forwarded directly to that office.

Multiple requests for comment to officials at Old Republic Title's regional headquarters in California and the company HQ in Minneapolis yielded no results.

If you were employed by any of these companies -- or employed their services -- I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences. Call me or shoot me an e-mail.

A title industry veteran who told me he'd managed county offices for both Alliance Title and Old Republic said Mercury and Old Repulic are employing the same strategy in Southern California: "Bring your wagons back into LA, and see if you can survive -- and if you can't, you turn out the lights."

The former manager said that while the downturn in the housing market has meant less business for all title insurers, both Alliance and Old Republic had profitability issues predating the current downturn.

UPDATE: An Inman News reader says Old Republic Title has disclosed to clients plans to close its office in Burlingame (that's south of San Francisco) in the next two weeks and consolidate in San Carlos. This reader expects other title companies in San Mateo County to make similar moves.

Also, Financial Title has closed its office in downtown Livermore (east of San Francisco). Call the old number there and you're forwarded to an office in Pleasanton, where a staffer told me, "all the Livermore girls" are now working.

Action Heating Up on Alliance Closing

The postings below appeared on the blogs identified below (which can be reached at the links provided to the right).  It will be interesting to see how events shake out.  I still wonder how lenders are dealing with Financial Title and whether FATCO maintains its relationship with other Mercury Company underwritten title companies.

--------------------------

From PinkBunnyEars:
FATCO has a transition team in place out of Pleasanton and thank goodness Donna H is heading it up but I also heard she alrady has retained an high powered attorney and is suing the Hauptmans indiviudually plus Mercury and possibly Harritt and has the ammo to make it happen. I am moving forward in that directions too
Comment by jensen — January 7, 2008 @ 9:17 am

From SocketSet:

I just found out today about Alliance closing their doors. I am the landlord for one of their offices, when I called about their rent being late I was told that they had closed their doors. Did they file bankruptcy? I'm not surprised that they went under. Everyone I ever dealt with from their office was an idiot.
Posted by: Frank at January 7, 2008 11:50 AM

New Info on Alliance

The two postings shown below were pulled off of the "SocketSite" Blog. They appear to confirm information most of you know. That is not only were Alliance employees who worked up until the end not paid for their vacation time or expenses, there appears to be a problem for employees who left Alliance some time before its closing but were not paid what they were allegedly owed.

-----------(Posting 1)--------------

It is true that no accrued vacation, commissions, etc, were paid to Alliance Title employees who were laid off on December 13.

So if you are owed final wages, file a wage claim:

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileWageClaim.htm

Also, an up to 30 day penalty can be applied:

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_WaitingTimePenalty.htm

My office was kept out of the loop, and let's just say that we had to take a lot of the heat because Mercury wouldn't, even though we had zero answers for fellow employees.

Posted by: Former ATC Employee at January 4, 2008 10:00 AM

-------------(Posting 2)-----------------

I am an attorney, and represent several former employees who were not paid what they were owed - - - long before ATC closed its doors. It is my opinion that ATC/Mercury promised large salaries (bonuses, etc.) in order to induce the top producers to accept employment, but never intended to pay what was promised. If you have any information on this, please e-mail me at mark_simpkins@hotmail.com

Posted by: Mark at January 4, 2008 11:22 AM

Mercury's Certificates of Insurance

Links are provided on this page to the insurance certificates for Professional Liability and Fidelity for the Mercury Companies.  These may be important for creditors of Alliance Title (and potentially creditors of other Mercury Companies.  Both certificates contain extensive lists of the numerous Mercury entities.

Posting on the ML-Imploder Site

Thought it a good idea to provide my initial posting on the ML-Imploder site (see link to the left) because it provides a list of Mercury Companies.  If you have any specific information on any of these companies, please post the information as a comment to this thread.

Thanks,

Daniel

Why The Blog?

Given both the timing and lack of notice provided former Alliance Title Company employees, I thought it best to provide a central source for posting information and comments relating to its demise, along with tracking the situation of the other Mercury Companies to see just how this matter progresses.  While there are a number of sites out there providing a great deal of information on the closing of Alliance, there really isn't a single location where participants can voice their views in a manner where they have no fear of repercussion.  Hence, at least initially so long as there is no abuse, to allowing anonymous postings.  Other sites where you can find information include:

www.pinkbunnyears.com

http://tinyurl.com/29ejpo

http://tinyurl.com/yw5dax

http://tinyurl.com/ynrg5l

http://tinyurl.com/ywbata

Daniel Shays