I respectfully disagree with your assessment of claims management by title insurers having anything to do with RESPA.  The core services required by RESPA involve the determination of insurability and who does the determining (and subsequent liability) And the full and honest disclosure of all costs associated with the closing - none of which is being done - but that is a different arguement.  Fairness does come into play in litigation.  Why should an entity receiving the smallest compensation suffer the greatest risk.  We, the abstractors and examiners, are to blame for the current situation.  We basically issue title insurance without any of the rules or regulations - or proper payment.

You also mention negligence.  One of the main concepts of running title is to do so in a manner that is "generally acceptable practice" in an area - boy, is that thrown out the window with the internet - or even worse filling out these ridiculous forms that they try to make us use.  Negligence is allowing a VM to take a current or 2-owner or Purchase Money Mortgage search and issue a title policy on it.  Let's take some of their requirements to court with the claim - no family to family deeds; forms that do not have a place for the type of deed; restrictions to be included on a limited search; searches that do not even require a copy of the deed.  We are WAY backwards on a lot of  the things going on in this industry!

The ultimate loser here is Mr. and Mrs. Homebuyer/refinancer - who gets a crappier product backed up by less and less.  And we are losing our jobs while we help them.