When the issue first surfaced, a title firms' trade group said the companies had sought guidance earlier from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and no clear cut answer was forthcoming.

In February, LandAmerica notified the Colorado Insurance Division that it had voluntarily terminated captive insurance agreements. Nevertheless, Colorado authorities said later they had issued a cease and desist order to halt such arrangements.

That same month, Colorado reached a settlement with LandAmerica competitor First American Title Insurance, which agreed to a $24 million nationwide refund to consumers, with $150,000 going to Colorado home buyers. Colorado said that it plans to sue LandAmerica because settlement talks have been unsuccessful.

Mr. Chandler describes title insurance as "the guarantee wrapper" around a home purchase that involves much prior work and service to mitigate the risk of claims, which is the reason that actual claims are low.

He said that historically the industry had looked to HUD as "the primary promulgator of rules and regulations. What is different is that various states are becoming more interested in regulating our industry within their borders. I think that's beneficial. We're likely to have clear rules and regulations.

The LandAmerica CEO is also upbeat on the industry's current market conditions, citing "historically low interest rates" as well as a strong climate for buying and selling homes across the country.

He said any real estate bubbles that may occur are localized in areas such as Florida and Southern California, and if they break what would typically happen is that the growth in prices there "would turn off and return to the arithmetic mean."

Mr. Chandler==who took over in January as CEO after serving four years as chief operating officer==said the company is continuing a growth strategy of buying into businesses that are linked to real estate transactions, such as lending.