Per a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and court documents, REMAX has reached a settlement agreement in the Batton commission lawsuit (the first and largest by homebuyers) and will pay $8.5 million to resolve claims that it implemented and enforced rules that harmed buyers.
The news comes the day after Judge LaShonda Hunt of the Northern District of Illinois denied new attempts by big brokerages to have the lawsuit thrown out.
The settlement agreement is “not an admission or concession of liability,” the filing read, and REMAX continues to deny the wrongdoing alleged by the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs in Batton are homebuyers who have broadly alleged the same misconduct as Burnett and other copycat lawsuits filed by sellers—that brokerages conspired with each other and the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) to create and enforce rules that inflated commissions.
Those rules have since been repealed, but buyer claims continued to move forward in multiple jurisdictions, even as some companies have struck separate settlement agreements.
In a court filing that came at roughly the same time as the SEC notification, REMAX clarified that the settlement covers buyers who were not also sellers—an issue that is central to the national buyer lawsuits, with plaintiffs seeking to include buyers who also sold homes during the relevant time period, even though those people were included in the seller class.
The company also argued the settlement amount is fair based on the company’s financial conditions, “which has declined over the course of this litigation” (going back to 2021).
The settlement amount was, in fact, more than the entirety of REMAX’s net income in 2025, the filing notes.
In a statement, a company spokesperson said it was “pleased” with the settlement, noting that it applies to sub-franchisors, franchisees and agents.
“Entering into this settlement is a business decision that brings certainty to what has been a long and uncertain situation. Moving forward, REMAX affiliates are able to continue putting buyers and sellers first—without distraction—as they deliver the best experience in real estate.,” the spokesperson said.
REMAX was the second company to settle the seller lawsuits back in 2023, paying $55 million before the Burnett trial, which ended with a nearly $1.8 billion judgement against the remaining defendants.
Keller Williams settled in the Batton case in February for $20 million, becoming the first of the defendants in the case to do so. Other companies, including Anywhere and Howard Hanna, are pursuing settlements in a buyer copycat case known as Tuccori, which has sparked pushback from the Batton plaintiffs.
NAR said following Keller Williams’ settlement that it “continues to pursue all potential resolutions, both non-litigation and litigation, to reach a result that is in the best interest of our members, the industry and consumers.”
An NAR spokesperson later clarified to RISMedia that this statement still applies in the wake of the REMAX settlement.
Buyer claims move forward
The day before REMAX announced its settlement, Hunt wrote that defendants in the separate Batton II case (which is largely identical, but names other big brokerages including eXp, United Real Estate and Weichert) did not convincingly argue that they acted independently to implement NAR rules, allowing the lawsuit to continue.
In her 54-page ruling, Hunt wrote that she was not “swayed” by arguments that these big brokerages acted independently and in their own-self interest, at least at this stage in the lawsuit, affirming (as other judges have) that homebuyers can plausibly claim these companies conspired with NAR to inflate commissions.
“It may come out in discovery that there are insufficient facts to support claims against the different Defendants,” Hunt wrote.“But at this stage, the court accepts plaintiffs’ allegations that the (Defendant) entities worked together, through, implementation and enforcement of the NAR rules and procedures.”
The companies had argued that they did not have a sufficient geographical connection in the district, and also that the alleged conspiracy was really just members of a trade organization working for a common interest.
Hunt also denied requests by defendants to dismiss the lawsuit on technical or jurisdictional grounds, that she did rule out any court-ordered changes to rules (as other judges have) and also consumer protection and antitrust allegations in eight states, based on statutes of limitations and specific laws in those jurisdictions.
Editor’s note: this story was updated on March 26 with a comment from NAR and a statement from REMAX.
