Pennsylvania Statutes Title 40 P.S. Insurance § 910-1. Definitions

(1) “Title insurance” means insuring, guaranteeing or indemnifying against loss or damage suffered by owners of real property or by others interested therein by reason of liens, encumbrances upon, defects in or the unmarketability of the title to said real property; guaranteeing, warranting or otherwise insuring the correctness of searches relating to the title to real property; and doing any business in substance equivalent to any of the foregoing in a manner designed to evade the provisions of this article.

(2) The “business of title insurance” shall be deemed to be (i) the making as insurer, guarantor or surety, or proposing to make as insurer, guarantor or surety, of any contract or policy of title insurance; (ii) the transacting, or proposing to transact, any phase of title insurance, including solicitation, negotiation preliminary to execution, execution of a contract of title insurance, insuring and transacting matters subsequent to the execution of the contract and arising out of it, including reinsurance; and (iii) the doing, or proposing to do, any business in substance equivalent to any of the foregoing in a manner designed to evade the provisions of this article.

(3) “Title insurance company” means any domestic company organized under the provisions of this article for the purpose of insuring titles to real estate, a title insurance company organized under the laws of another state or foreign government and licensed to insure titles to real estate within this Commonwealth pursuant to section 722  1 of this article,  2 domestic and foreign companies, including any domestic bank or trust company, having the power and authorized to insure titles to real estate within this Commonwealth as of the effective date of this amendment and which meet the requirements of section 710  3 of this article.  4

(4) “Applicant for insurance” shall be deemed to include approved attorneys, real estate brokers, real estate salesmen, attorneys at law and all others who from time to time apply to a title insurance company or to an agent of a title insurance company, for title insurance, and who at the time of such application are not agents for a title insurance company.

(5) “Fee” for title insurance means and includes the premium, the examination and settlement or closing fees, and every other charge, whether denominated premium or otherwise, made by a title insurance company, agent of a title insurance company or an approved attorney of a title insurance company, or any of them, to an insured or to an applicant for insurance, for any policy or contract for the issuance of, or an application for any class or kind of, title insurance; but the term “fee” shall not include any charges paid by an insured or by an applicant for insurance, for any policy or contract, to an attorney at law acting as an independent contractor and retained by such attorney at law, whether or not he is acting as an agent of or an approved attorney of a title insurance company, or any charges made for special services not constituting title insurance, even though performed in connection with a title insurance policy or contract.

(6) “Commissioner” means the Insurance Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

(7) An “approved attorney” means an attorney at law in good standing upon whose examination of title and report of title thereon a title insurance company may issue a policy of title insurance.