Yes, indeed it was and will continue to for many years to come.  Unfortunately, that is the way of business here in America these days.  Find the cheapest and quickest way with no regard of the future fall out.  When claims go even higher in the future due to lack of quality title work, maybe and only maybe, will things change.  It will take the "right" people loosing their homes, (or the fear of loosing their home, which in turn will cause claims) due to some hidden title defect to make the noise that is needed to regulate things back to normal.  Just look at the banks....certain banks got help, why is that??  Friends in high places, that's how.  Realtors finally got the banks out the way in the line of title ABA's but they freak out when anyone questions their own ABA's. 

On a side note:

I just received a call from First American Real Estate something or another trying to get me on with there "new" records retrieval system.  When I told the foreign speaking man that I use local abstractors/examiners for all our searching and also have access to the county websites he came back with "well, with First American...you wouldn't need to rely on those outside people or the websites because we have " .... I cut him off and transferred him to my boss.  I am sure he got an earful.  The coyotes are on the prowl - thinking on it now I should have stuck out the call and found out more and then shot him down myself but alas, I just didn't want to hear about and think so hard about what the poor guy was trying to say as it was a bit difficult to understand him with his accent.