Liability Insurance

Did anyone go to the “NNA Conference” in Dallas and take the “Legal Course” - where the attorney went over recent notary cases?

I did - and it was quite the eye opener…The Lawyer went over one case that happened, I believe New York - not sure it was months ago - where a Notary Public assisted in the documents on a bid on a contract, but forgot to sign, but did put her seal. No one caught it, and the bid was turned in denied as incomplete, and the company lost the bid $1mil. The company sued the notary for the loss. They won - but the error insurance did not cover the total, and the Notary was held liable for the balance. If she had had liability insurance, it would have helped.

The point being - as signing agents - though we are there to witness the signing of the documents and notarize where applicable - we are held to the degree of insuring all documents are signed and executed properly. IMPORTANT to read the instructions from lender and title companies, and follow its direction and maintain a copy of the instructions to protect yourself.

The attorney went further to say - E&O insurance only covers error made as a notary public, not the documents that do not require notarization. In other words, if you forget - or - neglect to have the borrower sign a document correctly - and the loan is denied due to improper execution of a non-notarized document - the borrower loses the loan and/or the lender loses money due to the notary’s error - you can be sued - and the E&O insurance and surety bond are not valid. Therefore, the liability falls on you individually.

Thus, comes in “personal liability insurance”, and whether you are a dba or LLC. However, there is no true way to protect your personal assets either way.

Just thought I would share! Any comments?

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Any recommendations for where to purchase the liability insurance?

No, talking with others who have it - check with your insurance company for business insurance - or - get an umbrella policy for your assets that includes your business. But I heard it is very expensive.

It would be helpful if Notary Cafe could have video of the Attorney’s talk. I would assume he could be talked into doing it for free as a public service to Public Notaries.

Was there anything else of interest cover?

Thanks
Spencer

Thank you Spencer for your comments. However, as far as a video - it was a 3 day course study - the room was packed. It would be difficult to get a video - lots of comments, questions, and area covered. I plan to attend the NNA conference in 2018, it was full of information and the networking was great. I increased my business by 50% with the vendor contacts I made with Title Companies, Signature Services, and Homeland Security. This was the first conference I ever attended and I have been a Notary since 1981.

Some items covered is were regarding the how the new laws regarding identity theft effects a notary public when collecting copies of driver’s license, writing down PPI information and if it should be stolen can you be held responsible; the effects on Notary Public when state law conflicts with federal law; the responsibility of a Notary Public when it comes to identifying whether some one is signing of their own free will or you feel there is a problem - the liability; I could go on and on - and he was going over case law and court decisions.

It was a very good class and very informative. NNA had several other courses and knowledge based classes also - Reverse mortgages and how to determine a Sr. citizens competency, both on mortgages and when you do wills, trust, etc. I just want to say there is way to much to cover in just this forum as to the benefits of the conference.

DeeDee Smith

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