Lawyers Title Ins. Corp. v. Norwest Corp.

In this appeal of right, we focus upon the meaning of “insurance” in the context of the regulatory jurisdiction of the State Corporation Commission and its Bureau of Insurance. The term is not defined in the Code of Virginia, but we have said that a “shifting of the risk is the essence of insurance.” Hilb, Rogal and Hamilton Co. v. DePew, 247 Va. 240, 248, 440 S.E.2d 918, 923 (1994).

Here, we consider whether the Commission erred in ruling that it had no authority to regulate a product that is being offered to consumers in the title insurance market. Specifically, the dispositive question is…