Hi Jay,

Sorry if I offended you. That was not my intent.

In so far as remedies are concerned, first you need to present something to the abstractors to induce them to action. Most of them are small operations that do not have the financial ability to contribute time or money in large quantitities. Right now Naltea seems to be having difficulty witrh this. There are literally thousands of abstractors out there, and only 100 are Naltea members. 

I know you think the word "union" is a curse word, but it does not have to be that way. A union can be whatever its membership wants it to be so long as it conforms to the NLRB requirements. Naltea is essentially a trade association with little clout to accomplish the needs of the abstractors. If combined with other means it can be useful, but to date there appears to be little interest in joining. Unionized activity allows better control of pricing i.e. plumbers and electricians.  When we last discussed this issue there was some concern with larger abstractors having to  pay their employees union wages. However, that expense can be passed to the client in much the same way that other unions do. 

There are a number of legal approaches that can be taken. David Bloys has been at the forefront of preventing online dissemination of personal information. He is to be applauded for his work. A more effective approach to lobbying state and federal government needs to be organized. Court actions such as those in Michigan need to be commenced.

In so far as education, marketing and promotion are concerned, all of the offending parties have clients for whom they perform work. The main interest appears to be maximizing profit. I think an effort needs to be made to locate the weak link. This is ultimately the party who is at risk, and for whom they work. Once identified an effort can be made to educate the party as to his liabilities. Is the title insurance/casualty insurance going to cover him? Does he want anything less than the best search available to disclose problems? Does he want to entrust this decision to a title company/title insurer? It is the control of the purse strings that seems to control in this environment. Once identified the weak link can be educated through an organized marketing effort. 

More effective marketing tools are needed...not the least of which is institutional advertising as to the value of the abstractor's work. The major title insurers may be outsourcing to the third world, but many other title companies do not have that budget. They simply apply pressure to the abstractor to reduce his/her rates. Because the abstractors have no organized clout, most of the time they simply acquiesce. 

These are just a few ideas. I am sure that others can be devised.