SHELDON RUBIN
Professional Profile
Rubin & Eagan, A Professional Corporation
1901 Avenue of the Stars, Ste. 1100, Los Angeles, CA 90067
Telephone: (310) 788-0983; Fax: (310) 788-0984
E-mail: srubin@rubineagan.com
Mr. Rubin provides professional services for disputes and matters which involve high liability exposure and complex legal and factual issues.
RISK MANAGEMENT EXPERT WITNESS |
REAL PROPERTY TITLE INSURANCE BUSINESS DISPUTES |
MEDIATION EXPERT CONSULTANT |
PREVENTIVE LAW & DUE DILIGENCE
(avoiding legal risks and crisis prevention)
providing clients with the opportunity to identify, assess and address risks before they develop into losses or a business crisis
CLAIMS ANALYSIS, SECOND OPINIONS and EXIT STRATEGIES
for transactional disputes or pending actions
STRATEGIC DISPUTE MANAGEMENT
to manage the risk of an adverse result and the cost of ongoing litigation
MEDIATION
Mr. Rubin provides facilitative and evaluative mediation services in situations when parties seek an alternative to a conflict that is without imminent resolution or do not want to risk an adverse result or the cost of ongoing litigation.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE
In 1973, Mr. Rubin opened his law office in Beverly Hills and subsequently opened branch offices in San Francisco and Dallas. Mr. Rubin currently maintains his offices in Century City.
Mr. Rubin is on the Roster of Commercial Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association.
Mr. Rubin is also Managing Director of International Land Title Consultants, LLC which provides due diligence and risk management services for inbound investors and advice concerning credit enhancement products for use in domestic and international real estate transactions.
Education: Mr. Rubin received both his Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Land Economics and his Law Degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign.
Bar Admissions: Mr. Rubin is admitted to the State Bar of Illinois (inactive) and the State Bar of California.
He is a member of the California, Illinois State, Los Angeles and Chicago Bar Associations.
Following his admission to the Illinois State Bar, Mr. Rubin worked for Chicago Title and Trust Company and Chicago Title Insurance Company responsible for land title searching, examining, underwriting and claims in California, Illinois, Nevada and Arizona. His responsibilities also included assignments as Counsel for the Escrow Department, Trust Department and subsidiaries of the companies. Mr. Rubin also served as General Counsel for Provident Title Company (2006-2021).
During the past 40 years, Mr. Rubin’s experience and practice has been concentrated in business, real estate and insurance disputes and transactions (including title insurance coverage litigation and underwriting). He has performed these services for various parties, including insureds, underwriters, title insurance agents, owners, and lenders, throughout the United States in most of the commercial centers of the country. He has developed an expertise for managing, directing and structuring the settlement of complex litigation and transactional disputes before litigation.
Mr. Rubin’s real estate experience involved many types of disputes, including: adjoining owners; adverse possession; boundaries; brokers; construction loans; due diligence; easements; encroachments; escrows; fiduciary responsibilities; financing; foreclosures; fraud; Hawaiian land rights; homeowners associations; joint ventures; landlord and tenant; lender liability; lis pendens; marketable title; mechanics’ liens and numerous other involuntary liens; mineral rights; mortgages; option contracts; partnerships; priorities and recording; purchase and sale; restrictive covenants; specific performance; statute of frauds; trust deeds; trusts; water rights; and workouts.
Mr. Rubin’s experience with title insurance, property insurance and liability insurance disputes involved: bad faith; policy coverage and interpretation; punitive damages; reservation of rights; tender of defense; and, subrogation.
Recent experience also includes real estate related disputes and insurance coverage disputes arising from the 2019 coronavirus (Covid-19) disease. These disputes included many issues including: application of the force majeure clause; business interruption insurance policy coverage; impossibility of performance; frustration of purpose; virus exclusion in the insurance policy; and, civil authority.
During the past 40 years that Mr. Rubin has been in private practice, he has been involved in and responsible for more than 300 high liability title insurance claims and real estate disputes, most involving $1,000,000 to $200,000,000 in potential liability.
Mr. Rubin has frequently counseled title insurers and their claims departments to diligently apply proactive, aggressive planning to avoid claims and control unexpected claims expense; and, to conduct operations, underwriting and claims audits on a timely basis resulting in procedures that reduce the cost of claims.
In 1978 Mr. Rubin, with the approval of the Attorneys General of California and Nevada, appeared as amicus curiae and filed a brief on behalf of the California Land Title Association in the original action filed by the State of California against the State of Nevada, in the Supreme Court of the United States. This action involved the determination of the boundary line between California and Nevada, invoked under Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States.
In 1990 Mr. Rubin represented the California Land Title Association before the Insurance Commissioner for the State of California in connection with the proposed enactment of the unfair claims settlement practices regulations. Mr. Rubin successfully argued and negotiated for the exclusion of the title insurance industry from the applicability of the regulations
In 1991 Mr. Rubin served on the California Insurance Commissioner’s Consumer Complaints and Unfair Practices Task Force.
Mr. Rubin is Co-Chair of the International Real Estate Transaction Library.The primary mission of the Library is the creation of an on-line reference tool for American real estate attorneys and title professionals when engaging in international real estate transactions.
Mr. Rubin was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Section on Conflict Resolution (2016). The Committee has created a Mediation Referral Service with an approved list of panel mediators to serve the Beverly Hills and surrounding communities.
Mr. Rubin was the testifying expert, in an eight week jury trial, for an insured in a claim on a title insurance policy resulting in a $25,000,000 verdict (policy limits). The verdict was reported as the largest in recent Fresno County history and Top 100 Verdicts in America, 2016.
Mr. Rubin was nominated and elected as a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (1983–). He chaired the Title Insurance Committee for three years and currently chairs the International Title Assurance Subcommittee. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (2003-2005).
For the past 35 years Mr. Rubin has been an active member of the American Land Title Association and is a member of the ALTA Liaison Committee with the NAIC and the Title Counsel Committee.
For the past 35 years, Mr. Rubin has been active in the American Bar Association. He served as Chair of the Title Insurance Committee of the Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section for three years and served as a Vice-Chair of the Title Insurance Litigation Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section.
During the past 35 years, Mr. Rubin has been a speaker at numerous professional programs dealing with real estate, title insurance and escrows. Mr. Rubin was a member of the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute and participated in many programs and authored publications relating to escrows and title insurance. He was a participating author of the Title Insurance Chapter of the American Law of Real Property, published by Matthew Bender, and has authored book reviews for the American Bar Association.