Statistical Information on nature of claims from Land Titles Office of New South Wales

Please note that:

• Names of parties have been withheld.
• In most cases, damages are unliquidated and amounts stated are estimates only.
• The year in which each claim was satisfied appears in brackets in the Status of claim column.

Table 1

Date	Wrongdoer	Total of claim	Amount paid	Status of claim
1975	Employee of mortgagee			Dismissed with Registrar-General's costs
1975	Third party/agent		$22,686	Court order (1981)
1975	Employee of financier		$6,250	Paid ex gratia (1979)
1977	Solicitor/director of mortgagee		$20,000	Consent order (1981)
1977	Attorney		$61,500	Consent order (1982)
1978	Solicitor			Dismissed by consent after payment by Fidelity Fund (1979)
1978	Husband	$220,000		Struck out by Court (1990)
1979	Solicitor		$21,202	Consent order (1983)
1981	Attorney	$230,000		Considered abandoned (1994)
1981	Solicitor		$35,856	Court order (1982)
1981	Husband			Dismissed (1984)
1981	Sister	$120,000		Considered abandoned (1994)
1982	Husband and third party	$90,000	$101,580	High Court order (1994) (Part costs outstanding)
1983	Son	$55,000		Dismissed with Registrar-General's costs (1987)
1983	Company director		$647,278	Court order (1990)
1983	Third party	$470,000		Dismissed with Registrar-General's costs (1989)
1984	Company director		$180,000	Consent order (1991)
1985	Financier	$250,000		Considered abandoned (1994)
1986	Third party			Discontinued (1991)
1987	Director	$70,000		Dismissed
1989	Solcitor	$270,000	$255,873	Court of Appeal order (1993)
1990	Father	$490,000		Dismissed with Registrar-General's costs (1991)
1990	Executor/solicitor/son	$40,000		To be settled
1990	Brother	$330,000		Dismissed be consent (1991)
1990	Mortgage broker (3 separate claims)	$500,000		Withdrawn after settlement by Lawcover (1992)
1991	Brother	$450,000		Pending
1991	Financial adviser	$425,000	$221, 484	Settled (1994)
1992	Solicitor		$177,366	Settled (1994)
1992	Solicitor		$169,071	Settled (1994)
1992	Solicitor	$1,070,000		Withdrawn after settlement by solicitors' Fidelity Fund
1992	Solicitor's clerk	$130,000		Pending
1992	Solicitor	$350,000		Discontnued pending other proceedings (1993)
1992	Director	$110,000		Discontinued (1993)
1993	Husband	$65,000		Discontinued (1993)
1993	Son	$130,000		Discontinued (1994)
1993	Son/daughter-in-law	$310,000	$237,000	Settled
1993	Third party unknown to registered proprietor	$125,000	$122,000	Settled (1994)
1994	Wife	$60,000		Discontinued
1994	Husband	$850,000		Pending
1994	Daughter	$230,000	$173,000	Settled (1994)
1994	Third party not known to registered proprietor	$100,000		Pending
1994	Acquaintance	$50,000		Pending
1994	Husband	$190,000		Pending
1994	Nephew of shareholder	$330,000		Pending
1994	Financial adviser	$35,000		Pending
1995	Financial adviser (multiple funds)	$220,000		Pending
1995	Husband	$90,000		Pending
1995	Son and daugher-in-law	$80,000		Judgment against another party (1995)
1995	Husband	$258,671	$350,935	Court order (1996) (costs not yet resolved)
1995	Land dealer	$40,000		Pending
1995	Husband	$70,000		Pending
1995	Defacto husband	$840,000		Pending
	Total paid in fraud matters		$2,894,443
	Total fraud claims not finalised (estimate)	$3,525,000

[Link to text only version of table 1]

Errors

In Land Titles Office

Date	Nature of error	Amount claimed	Amount paid	Status
1982	Omission of easement			Discontinued with Registrar-General's costs (1989)
1983	Error in recording of extent of easement		$7,500	Settled (1988)
1984	Omission of restriction on use of land		$10,000	Settled (1988)
1986	Omission of easement		$5,130	Settled (1987)
1987	Error in title diagram as to boundary/area of land			Discontinued (1990)
1987	Omission of easement	$70,000		Discontinued
1987	Omission of easment	$270,000		Discontinued
1988	Error in conversion of land to Torrens system			Discontinued with Registrar-General's costs (1992)
1988	Error in recording a s 46C application	$240,000		Pending (Awaiting outcome of and appeal against another defendant)
1988	Misstatement of area of parcel of land		$50,000	Settled (1992)
1988	Omission of restrictive covenant		$4,250	Settled (1995)
1988	Omission of restrictive covenant	$60,000	$65,798	Appeal pending
1992	Error in not cancelling a Certificate of Title	$100,000	$175,000	Settled (1995)
1993	Erroneous inclusion of land in title	$41,000	$27,000	Settled (1993)
1993	Omission of easement	$30,000	$25,930	Settled (1994)
1993	Transposition of parish DP numbers	$2,310,000		Pending
1993	Erroneous registration of transfer of half share as whole (& fraud of son/daughter-in-law)	$75,000		Pending
1993	Erroneous cancellation of transfer for road	$65,000	$41,500	Settled (1995)
1994	Removal of caveat	$90,000		Pending
1994	Invalid preliminary agreement	$185,000		Withdrawn (1995)
1994	Omission of easement	$9,000	$79,355	Settled (1995) (costs to be finalised)
1994	Erroneous inclusion of land in Primary Application	$55,000	$47,524	Settled (1995)
1994	Erroneous removal of caveat (and fraud of son/daughter-in-law)	$80,000		Pending (Awaiting outcome of proceedings between other defendants)
	Total paid for LTO errors		$538,987
	Total LTO error claims not finalised (estimate)	$2,855,000

[Link to text only version of table 2]

Other Errors

Date	Nature of error	Amount claimed	Amount paid	Status
1983	Surveyor		$12,082	Settled (1989)
1990	Error of claimant and claimant's solicitor in transfer			Struck out with Registrar-General's costs
1992	Surveyor		$70,74	Order (1993)
1993	Surveyor			Discontinued (1994)
	Total paid for error of other parties		$82,256

[Link to text only version of table 3]

Total amount paid: $3,515,686

Total of claims not finalised (estimate): $6,380,000

Summary of Claims Since 1975

NB: Amounts are indexed against the year in which the claim was commenced.

Fraud

Year	No of claims	Number dismissed/ withdrawn	No settled	No lost	Number outstanding	Estimate of outstanding claims (including costs)	Amount paid
1975	3	1	1	1			$28,936
1976	Nil						Nil
1977	2		2				$81,500
1978	2	2					Nil
1979	1		1				$21,202
1980	Nil						Nil
1981	4	3		1			$35,856
1982	1			1		$90,000	$101,580
1983	3	2		1			$647,278
1984	1		1				$180,000
1985	1	1					Nil
1986	1	1					Nil
1987	1	1					Nil
1988	Nil						Nil
1989	1			1			$255,873
1990	4	3			1	$40,000	Nil
1991	2		1		1	$450,000	$221,484
1992	6	3	2		1	$130,000	$346,437
1993	4	2	2				$359,000
1994	9	1	2		6	$1,555,000	$264,362
1995	7	1		1	5	$1,260,000	$350,935
Total	53	21	12	6	14	$3,525,000	$2,894,443

[Link to text only version of table]

Departmental Error

Year	No of claims	No dismissed/ withdrawn	No settled	No lost	No outstanding	Estimate of outstanding claims (including costs)	Amount paid
1975	Nil						Nil
1976	Nil						Nil
1977	Nil						Nil
1978	Nil						Nil
1979	Nil						Nil
1980	Nil						Nil
1981	Nil						Nil
1982	1	1					Nil
1983	1		1				$7,500
1984	1		1				$10,000
1985	Nil						Nil
1986	1		1				$5,130
1987	3	3	1				Nil
1988	4	1	1		2	$300,000	$120,048
1989	Nil						Nil
1990	Nil						Nil
1991	Nil						Nil
1992	1		1				$175,000
1993	5		3		2	$2,385,000	$94,430
1994	3	1	1		1	$90,000	$79,355
1995	2		1		1	$80,000	$47,524
Total	22	6	10		6	$2,855,000	$538,987

[Link to text only version of table]

Other Errors

Year	No of claims	No dismissed/ withdrawn	No settled	No lost	No outstanding	Estimate of outstanding claims (including costs)	Amount paid
1983	1		1				$12,082
1990	1	1					Nil
1991	Nil						Nil
1992	1			1			$70,174
1993	1	1					Nil
1994	Nil						Nil
1995	Nil						Nil
Total	4	2	1	1			$82,256

[Link to text only version of table]

Ex gratia and minor claims

Details of ex gratia claims for the period 1977-1988 are contained in Issues Paper 6, paragraph 1.20.

Minor claims were often dealt with on an ex gratia basis until amendments to s 129 of the Real Property Act 1900 in 1992 gave the Registrar-General authority to settle claims. In the period from September 1976 until April 1996 157 of these claims have been processed by the Land Titles Office.

Total claims:	157
Pending:	6
Refused:	69
Paid all or part of claim:	82

A total of $279,539.73 has been claimed in 156 matters (10 claims being for unspecified amounts) and payments totalling $29,480.30 have been made.