Another six brokerages received more assurance that their settlement deals in seller-filed class-action commission lawsuits will go through, as Judge Stephen R. Bough of the Western District of Missouri gave his final approval to six more deals following a short hearing yesterday.
NextHome, The Keyes Company and Illustrated Properties, John L. Scott, LoKation, Real Estate One and Baird & Warner saw no objections to their agreements in the largest Burnett copycat case, known as Gibson. The hearing lasted a little over 15 minutes, according to court filings.
Most of these defendants were added to the lawsuit in April of last year, when the attorneys behind Burnett made it clear they would be suing every company left out of the deal struck by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR)—specifically those with over $2 billion in transaction volume during 2022.
In a statement shared with RISMedia, a Baird & Warner spokesperson said that “(a)pproval of this settlement allows us to put a significant distraction behind us and continue focusing on providing our agents with the resources and support necessary to serve the real estate needs of homebuyers and sellers.”
Nearly all these companies struck their own separate deals over the ensuing year or so, paying less money than they would have to “opt in” to the NAR settlement. That deal has also received final approval, but faces a handful of objections and appeals.
In his order, Bough noted that over 2.5 million claims have been submitted in the commission lawsuits, with the first companies striking deals in late 2023, and the deadline for most claims already passed. Total settlement payments from NAR, MLSs and brokerages stands at a little over $1 billion.
Bough also formally awarded one-third of settlement payments from this most recent round of defendants as attorney fees, finding that number “reasonable” based on precedent and the complexities of the case.
Many in the real estate industry have decried the use of this “common” percentage as hypocritical, as the lawsuits themselves were centered around informal “standard” real estate commission percentages that plaintiffs argued were evidence of antitrust violations.
No defendant has admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlements.
Editor’s note: this story was updated at 2:55 p.m. eastern time with a statement from Baird & Warner.
