I am seeking advice from some of my abstractor colleagues concerning an issue with which I am dealing.

Some time ago, a local title agency signed up with us to do their full title searches in some of our remote counties.  This agent is extremely "abstractor-friendly", (i.e., sends a respectable volume of orders, consistently pays in a timely manner, allows a reasonable time frame in which to complete the work, etc.)

The issue is that the agent called a while back saying that one of my competitors had told the agent that my company does not check the civil indices when running a title search.  I was understandably perturbed by this, after all, this was a serious allegation with potentially damaging implications.  I informed the agent that yes, we do, in fact check all applicable indices when running titles and that I was at a loss to understand why someone would slander my company in that way.  The agent seemed satisfied with my answer, and as far as I was concerned, the issue was settled.

Fast forward to last week, when I received an email from the same agent stating that "another abstractor in a different county" had told the agent that "you never go into the Prothonotary's (Pennsylvania's word for the clerk of the civil court) office."  After having to be "peeled off the ceiling", I responded that I thought we had settled the matter and that I did not appreciate the implication that we are not properly doing our job.

To make a long story short, through my personal contacts, I discovered the identities of the abstractors who have been "running their mouths", and these attacks, in my opinion are personally motivated as these abstractors have done work for this agent in the past.  I believe there is little to be gained by confronting the agent, who as I indicated, has been a model client and cannot be faulted for doing their due diligence.  My question is what, if any action would you take?

Thanks in advance,
Scott Perry