Editor’s note: The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate.
Approvals and denials made by Judge Bough in Gibson
Judge Stephen R. Bough, overseeing the largest Burnett copycat, handed down mixed rulings on requests by Warren Buffett-owned conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE), the parent company of HomeServices.
The most important of the list was the approval of BHE’s objection to the designation of Warren Buffett and Debbie Bosanek as records custodians, which means Buffett will now be less directly involved in the lawsuit.
Theoretically, Buffett could have been required to preserve documents or information related to the lawsuit based on that designation.
The objections to Natalie Hocken, senior vice president and chief legal officer for BHE; Doug Anderson, former chief corporate counsel for BHE; and Scott Thon, president and CEO of BHS, as records custodians were denied, however.
Bough also denied BHE’s request for an interlocutory review, which would allow an appeals court to rule on a specific issue even as the rest of the case is going forward.
BHE had filed this request in order to have the matter of the case being transferred reopened, and possibly approved. However, Bough said BHE had not met the “heavy burden” of proof as to needing the review. He also said it was “not warranted” and could create further issues, such as spawning multiple duplicative cases.
DOJ drops objections to MLS PIN settlement
The DOJ has dropped its objections to the settlement agreement reached by MLS PIN for its commission lawsuits, following the organization’s adoption of NAR’s commission-sharing ban in its new settlement.
This is a significant reversal from only a few months ago, when parties to the MLS PIN case said the DOJ explicitly rejected their offer to align their policy changes with NAR’s agreement.
MLS PIN’s new settlement—which still needs approval—appears to mostly mirror NAR’s deal, with some caveats. For example, there is a new clause voiding the ban on sharing commissions on the MLS if within three years, the state passes a law or a court rules that it is “not unlawful” to do so.
It also allows concessions to be negotiated off the MLS, as long as “as such concessions are not limited to or conditioned on the retention of or payment to a Buyer-Broker or other buyer representative.”
A hearing on the settlement’s preliminary approval is set for June 10.
