First American Title Insurance Company says a Long Island title agency rebranded itself to dodge a $611,000 judgment tied to a wire fraud at a 2020 closing.
That, in essence, is the story told in a lawsuit filed on May 6, 2026, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. According to the filing, First American is going after Liberty National Title Agency Corp., two entities operating as Consumer Direct Title Agency Inc. (one in New York, one in Florida), and their sole principal, Patricia Stein-Oliva, accusing them of pulling off a coordinated rebrand to leave a court judgment unpaid.
The trouble started, the filing says, with a routine June 2020 home sale in Farmingdale, New York. Liberty was handling the closing as title closer, settlement agent, and escrow agent. Ahead of the closing, Liberty allegedly received a faxed payoff statement that directed nearly $400,000 to a Comerica Bank account in the name of "FF Operations" - an outfit the lawsuit says had no connection to HUD or its servicer, Novad. The complaint also points out that HUD and Novad have a "well-publicized policy that … it does not accept loan payoffs by wire transfer."
Liberty wired $371,219.91 anyway, the filing alleges, without checking the instructions through a trusted source. The old HUD mortgage was never paid off, yet Liberty issued two title policies on First American's behalf that left the lien off entirely.
That decision, the lawsuit says, ran headlong into Liberty's Limited Agency Agreement with First American. Under Sections 3(c)(xvi), 4(b)(iv), and 6(c), Liberty agreed to indemnify First American for losses arising out of "(i) Liberty's escrow or settlement services; (ii) Liberty's negligence; or (iii) Liberty's failure to comply with First American's underwriting requirements which include, among other obligations, a duty to use trusted and verified payment information before initiating wire transfers."
First American says it ended up paying $371,219.91 to clear the old mortgage for its insureds, then sued Liberty in Nassau County. The state court granted summary judgment on liability in March 2023 and entered a final judgment of $611,069.70 in December 2024, which included $239,858.79 in attorneys' fees.
What happened next is the part the underwriter wants the federal court to unwind. Within weeks of the judgment, Liberty filed a Florida withdrawal on January 14, 2025, the same day CD-FL took effect, while CD-NY had been formed back in August 2024. According to the filing, the Consumer Direct entities kept running out of the same Melville office, with the same staff and the same phone numbers, telling the public they were "formerly Liberty National Title" and that the business had been "officially rebranded." First American says it has clawed back only about $90,000 through a bank levy.
For underwriters, agency managers, and claims teams, the case is a pointed reminder of how a single unverified wire instruction can ripple into a multi-year recovery fight - and how indemnification language and successor-liability theories are being put to work to chase those losses.
The allegations have not been tested in court, no response from the defendants appears on the docket as of this writing, and no judge has ruled on the federal claims.
