Surveyors
refuse to work with
Perfect Title clients
Some say the controversial company
By Rob Perez
is being blacklisted by the
real estate industry
Star-BulletinLand surveyors are refusing to do business with clients of Perfect Title Co., triggering allegations that the real estate industry is blacklisting the company in hopes of shutting it down. More than half a dozen surveying companies on Oahu and the Big Island have refused work requests once the companies learned the work was needed for Perfect Title, which traces land ownership to the 1850s using Hawaiian Kingdom law, according to several clients.
"All we've been getting are doors slamming shut," said Gary Vincent, a Big Island homeowner.
The clients said they were told Hawaii's title insurance companies have pressured the surveyors to avoid any involvement with Perfect Title customers or risk losing business.
"These title companies are running scared and trying anything and everything to stop what Perfect Title is doing," said Karl Travis, a Makakilo homeowner who claims he was refused service at six Oahu surveying companies.
But executives with two surveying companies and a title insurer said there's no campaign to blacklist Perfect Title.
The surveyors said they made independent decisions to stop doing business with the clients because legal questions about Perfect Title's controversial land ownership searches are unresolved and the surveyors don't want to be pulled into the fray.
"We felt at this point it would be prudent to take a wait-and-see position," said Chrystal Yamasaki, president of Wes Thomas Associates on the Big Island.
Perfect Title, dismissed as a scam operator by many in the industry, typically cites the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, treason against the kingdom or other factors to conclude that Hawaii land titles are no good.
The findings, if generally accepted, would create havoc in the industry, throwing ownership of thousands of acres into question.
Title Guaranty of Hawaii, the state's largest title insurance agency, has been leading the industry fight against Perfect Title.
Travis said Towill Shigeoka & Associates on Oahu originally agreed to do work for him but later had a change of heart.
Travis said he was told by Lester Shimabukuro, a Towill principal, that Title Guaranty was applying pressure.
Shimabukuro disputed that account. "Title Guaranty has never come down on us about Perfect Title," he said.
Shimabukuro said his company decided to discontinue doing work for Perfect Title clients partly because it didn't want to jeopardize its long-standing business relationship with Title Guaranty.
John Jubinsky, attorney for Title Guaranty, also disputed Travis' blacklisting charge. "Nothing was initiated by us," Jubinsky said.
Some -- not a majority of -- Perfect Title clients need the services of surveyors to get written legal descriptions of their property. The information is used to issue new deeds, which Perfect Title says is necessary to correct invalid titles.
Donald Lewis, Perfect Title president, said he was surprised his customers were having trouble getting "run-of-the-mill services" from surveyors -- especially when real estate companies are hurting for business.
"I can't figure it out," he said. "This whole (controversy) is taking on a life of its own."
Travis said he eventually found a self-employed surveyor on the Big Island who would do the work.
