Business News Release: March 28, 2002
Media Contact: Barbara Fornasiero 248.651.7536 or eafocus@bignet.net

Insurance Industry Veteran Opens Title Agency in Detroit

Specialist in Tax Reversion and Urban Redevelopment Aims Skills at Downtown Detroit’s
Underserved Title Market

Detroit, Mich. -- Catharine B. LaMont, an attorney with extensive experience in the title industry and one of the state’s leading experts in the tax reversion process, has opened LaMont Title Corporation at 211 W. Fort Street, Detroit. Ms. LaMont was recently First Vice President and Counsel for National Accounts with First American Title Insurance Company.

LaMont Title Corporation specializes in urban redevelopment and commercial transactions, serving local, regional, national and international markets, and will also act as an agent for First American Title.

Ms. LaMont’s decision to locate her office in downtown Detroit is based on her commitment to the continued expansion of the city, her expertise in the tax reversion process (an estimated 50,000 of Detroit’s properties have reverted back to the city due to non-payment of taxes), and the lack of a significant title insurance presence in the city. Ms. LaMont has extensive experience with Detroit’s ongoing office and entertainment renaissance. She managed all title and escrow needs for land assemblage, disposition, and financing for Comerica Park and Ford Field. She also provided title and escrow services to the recent major real estate transactions in Detroit, including the casinos, Graimark residential development, Brush Park, Campus Martius, and GM’s purchase of the Renaissance Center Towers number 5 and 6.

“Despite recent growth in the downtown area, tax reversion issues continue to be a major stumbling block to development in Detroit. These issues require expertise and services beyond traditional title services,” said LaMont.

“Working as a team of seasoned legal and title professionals, LaMont Title Corporation offers a model and a process for urban redevelopment that can help to equalize the benefits of developing an urban brownfield property versus a rural greenfield site. Urban redevelopment in Detroit should become more attractive to the areas’ developers when the hassles of redevelopment are eliminated or minimized,” continued LaMont.

Ms. LaMont’s professional and charitable activities are extensive. She is a member of the Michigan Land Title Association, the Michigan Land Title Standards Committee of the Michigan State Bar, and the Real Property Section of the Michigan State Bar. She also served for four years on Governor Engler’s Task Force for Tax Reversion Issues. Ms. LaMont is the author of several legal articles and textbooks, including the Michigan Practitioners Series, Real Property Volumes 1 and 2 and “A Road Map Through the Tax Sale Mine Field; A Title Insurer’s Perspective”. She is a graduate of Leadership Detroit Class XXII and past president of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) - Detroit, a national trade group. Since 1997, Ms. LaMont has been involved with Alternatives For Girls, a non-profit organization in Southwest Detroit helping at risk and high-risk girls and young women, and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors. She is also Chair of the Facilities Committee, with responsibility for the development and construction of the organization’s new facility.

Ms. LaMont holds a liberal arts degree from Albion College and a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University School of Law.

LaMont Title Corporation is located at 211 W. Fort Street, Suite 950, Detroit, Michigan, 48226 and on the web at www.lamonttitle.com. The phone number is 313.237.6095.