Arizona Title Ins. & Trust Co. v. Smith

In Arizona Title Ins. & Trust Co. v. Smith (1974) 21 Ariz.App. 371 519 P.2d 860, the City of Tucson imposed a special assessment on an apartment complex, which was not fully paid. (519 P.2d at pp. 860-861.) Two years later, when an investor bought it, the title insurer failed to list the assessment as an excluded defect in the title policy. (Ibid.) The appellate court rejected the insurer's contention that the assessment fell outside the policy's coverage due to exclusion 3(a), observing that the investor had not created the assessment. (Arizona Title, supra, at p. 863.)