This is just my opinion, maybe I'm wrong, but it's how I was taught. We are abstractors, not underwriters.

Example:  The homeowner is Lisa Davis Johnson.  I report all judgments against Lisa Johnson and Lisa Davis regardless of the middle initial.  Unless I was provided a social security number I do not eliminate judgments by middle initial.

Yesterday I got a request for a pre-foreclosure search.  With instructions that they believe the abstractor who did the search last year (not me) missed a judgement.  The abstractor only reported one judgment.  Lisa Davis Johnson has a middle name and it's not Davis, Davis is her maiden name, which seems obvious to me.  The prior abstractor only reported one judgment against Lisa Johnson, because the rest had a middle initial and it wasn't "D" for Davis.  They missed a $56,000 judgment again Lisa M. Johnson, who is the same person as Lisa Davis Johnson, her actual middle name is Marie.  This has been verified with the title company. (they reported none against Lisa Davis)

As much as you'd like think so, you don't have all the information that the title company has on this homeowner.   It's the underwriters job to eliminate judgments.  I feel bad for the abstractor who is about to find out that they missed this judgment that was recorded prior to the mortgage that they did the search for.  I say don't eliminate judgments by middle initial.  I guess I'm old school.  Are you all eliminating judgments by middle initial?