Curing Title Defects in Real Estate Transactions: Easements, Encroachments, Surveys, and Boundary Disputes

Lawrence S. Glosser, Partner | Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC

Lawrence S. Glosser is a Seattle-based attorney at Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC whose practice spans real estate, business, and corporate law across both transactions and litigation. With industry experience dating to 1978 as broker, manager, developer, and counsel. He brings a rare operational perspective to every legal engagement, helping clients assess risk, structure deals, and resolve disputes with equal parts legal precision and business judgment.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Glosser earned his J.D., cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law, where he served as Associate Editor of the Seattle University Law Review. He also holds a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati and an M.A. from Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles. He is admitted to practice before the Washington State Bar, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Glosser has been named a Super Lawyer every year since 2014 in real estate law and holds a 10.0 “Superb” rating from AVVO. He also holds a BV Peer Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has received the Outstanding Faculty recognition for his contributions to continuing legal education.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Glosser has served on the Continuing Legal Education Committee since 2001 and is a member of the King County Bar Association. A Charter Attorney with Seattle’s Housing Justice Project, he was named Volunteer of the Year in 2007 for his pro bono work in low-income tenant representation. He is a frequent national presenter for the National Business Institute and the Washington State Bar Association on topics spanning easements, title insurance, boundary law, and commercial real estate.

• Experience

Mr. Glosser began his legal career at Perkins Coie before serving as Assistant General Counsel at Shurgard Storage Centers, Inc., in Seattle. He later founded and led Glosser Law Offices, PLLC in Bellevue before joining Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC. His practice covers the full spectrum of real estate and business matters from acquisitions, financing, and leasing to title disputes, boundary litigation, and commercial development.

John L. Hosack, Partner | Buchalter

John L. Hosack is a Partner in Buchalter’s Los Angeles office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Title Insurance & Escrow Industry Group. He represents secured lenders and property owners in complex real property disputes including title insurance claims, fraud, wrongful foreclosures, mechanic’s liens, and class actions while also advising on commercial loan documentation, loan workouts, REO sales, and foreclosures.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Hosack earned his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law (1968) and attended the University of Washington (1965). He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the California Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, all four U.S. District Courts in California, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of California.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Hosack holds an AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer continuously since 2006, including the Corporate Counsel Edition since 2009. He has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal USA as one of the country’s leading real estate practitioners since 2002 and received the Spirit of CEB Award from the California Continuing Education of the Bar for his decades of contributions to legal education.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Hosack currently chairs the American College of Mortgage Attorneys’ Amicus Brief Committee and serves on the American College of Real Estate Lawyers’ Title Insurance Committee. He previously chaired the ABA’s Title Insurance Litigation Committee, ALTA’s Lender’s Counsel Group, and the San Francisco Bank Attorneys Association, and co-chaired the American College of Mortgage Attorneys’ Program and Title Insurance Committees for over two decades.

• Experience

With a practice spanning trial, appellate, and transactional real estate law, Mr. Hosack has litigated landmark title insurance and lender liability cases before California courts of appeal and served as a lecturer for the American Bar Association, State Bar of California, UC Berkeley School of Law, and the California Mortgage Association. His work at the intersection of mortgage lending, title insurance, and real property litigation makes him one of the most seasoned practitioners in the field.

Jason E. Goldstein, Partner| Buchalter

Jason E. Goldstein is a Partner at Buchalter practicing out of the firm’s Irvine and Los Angeles offices, with a statewide and national practice focused on resolving complex business disputes for lenders, insureds, banks, credit unions, mortgage servicers, investors, and general contractors. As Co-Chair of Buchalter’s Title Insurance & Escrow Industry Group, he is a go-to trial lawyer for matters involving title insurance, escrow, private money lending, wrongful foreclosure, trade secrets, and lender liability.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Goldstein earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law (1999) and his B.A. from the University of Southern California (1996). He is admitted to practice in California and Florida, before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and in numerous U.S. District Courts across California, Florida, Michigan, Colorado, and New York, with additional pro hac vice admissions in multiple state and federal jurisdictions nationwide.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Goldstein has been included in The Best Lawyers in America for Insurance Law in the 2024, 2025, and 2026 editions. In 2022, the California Mortgage Association awarded him its President’s Award for exemplary service to the organization.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Goldstein is a Fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, an ACMA Title Insurance Committee member, and former President of the Orange County Bar Association’s Insurance Law section. He is a frequent speaker at conferences for the California Mortgage Association, the American Association of Private Lenders, the California MBA, and the California Receivers Forum, and has authored articles published in Law360 and cited in West’s Civil Code Annotated.

• Experience

Mr. Goldstein handles litigation from inception through trial and appeal in state and federal courts across the country, with a track record of unanimous jury verdicts, bench trial victories, and nearly $20 million in title insurance indemnity recoveries for insured clients. His practice spans title insurance, escrow, private money lending, mortgage banking, trade secret misappropriation, receiverships, judicial foreclosures, and all aspects of bankruptcy proceedings under Chapters 7, 11, and 13.

I. Survey + Commitment: The Defect-Detection System that Prevents Closing Failure | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Effective defect detection starts with understanding what these matters look like on the ground from lack of access and ambiguous easements to encroachments, setback violations, conflicting surveys, and survey-disclosed “apparent” easements that never made it into the commitment. Attendees will learn how to read a survey the way deal counsel should, not just a title officer: confirming that legal descriptions match, verifying that encumbrances and easements on the commitment are properly depicted, and mining the survey for risks not captured in the commitment, including utility crossings, access gaps, parking sufficiency, and structures encroaching across boundary, setback, or easement lines.

The CLE covers commercial survey fundamentals, including why ALTA/NSPS surveys are the standard for surfacing non-record matters, and walks through a checklist-based review approach to catch improvements and encroachments before documents are finalized. A hands-on practice drill puts these skills to work with a 10-minute triage of a mock survey, guiding attendees through defect classification and the initial determination of cure paths versus coverage paths. It closes with early escalation awareness identifying red flags at the survey and commitment stage that signal a matter may not be curable, including conflicting occupation, adverse use, and irreconcilable survey conflicts that may require a litigation or quiet title posture if not resolved promptly.

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

II. Cure Playbook to Litigation Pivot: Document Fixes, Title Insurance Strategy, and Risk Management | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

When a title defect survives pre-closing review, counsel must move quickly and strategically, and this provides the roadmap. The session opens with lender-side dynamics, addressing the demands lenders will place on borrowers and guarantors when defects surface and the obligations that flow from those relationships. Attendees will examine liability exposure for potential slander of title, a frequently overlooked risk that can compound an already difficult situation if not managed carefully from the outset.

Then, it addresses the critical role of tolling agreements in preserving the applicable statute of limitations, followed by a practical discussion of when to file suit to protect limitations periods while staying the action pending curative resolution. Participants will also learn the criteria for retaining the right experts including bad faith and appraisal specialists and how the selection of experienced litigation counsel can shape outcomes from the earliest stages of a dispute. The program concludes with strategies for dealing with parties in possession of the subject property and navigating the interests of third parties who may have competing claims, ensuring attendees