Escrow Question - Can Escrow Hold Funds Hostage?

[John Cusick]

We (Seller) have just closed a deal with the most frustrating escrow experience. The escrow officer we retained had a serious health issue and was replaced with a new officer about a month before closing. The new officer has routinely ignored important emails, has provided wrong information on a number of occasions and, despite of our early requests for what else, if anything, was needed to close, she went into radio silence for days. On the closing date, after 11 am, she finally, for the first time and after our previous requests, sent us Seller's Estimated Closing Statement. We had a major issue with it and told her in an e-mail that the document needed to be corrected and the corrected Seller's Closing Statement must be approved by us (Seller) before she could close escrow. She ignored that request, closed escrow and sent everything to recording. Now, she insists that we sign/approve Seller's Estimated Closing Statement (after closing) before she distributes the funds. We do not want to sign/approve that document because we believe it's got errors. Since she's already closed this escrow, we'd like to have the funds distributed ASAP and, if it becomes necessary, deal with the defective closing statement later. Can an escrow officer hold the funds hostage after the closing and insist that we sign the Estimated Closing Statement, despite sending it to us so late and then ignoring our request that we approve that document before she could close?