State, Division of Insurance v. Norwest Corp.

MILLER, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1.] In this appeal, we hold that appellants are engaged in the title insurance business and are subject to regulation by the South Dakota Division of Insurance (Division).

[¶ 2.] Norwest Mortgage, Inc. (NMI), American Land Title Company, Inc., d/b/a ATI Title Company (ATI), and Norwest Corporation (Norwest), 1 through a series of related contracts, market and sell a program called Title Option Plus (TOP) to residential mortgage loan applicants. TOP is an alternative to title insurance, and enables the loans to be sold to secondary market purchasers. The South Dakota…