Clarissa Garza

Clarissa Garza is an associate editor for RISMedia.

Posts by Clarissa Garza

Court Grants Final Approval to $39.7 Million in Commission Settlements in Gibson Case

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Bough has granted final approval to settlements in the main Burnett copycat case totaling $39.7 million with five real estate brokerages, with the total settlement fund sitting at over $1 billion as the industry continues to grapple with the fallout from antitrust claims. The approvals, announced Wednesday in Kansas City,…

Judge Denies Compass’s Bid to Block Zillow Rules, Calls Conspiracy Allegations Not Credible

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York has denied Compass’s request for a preliminary injunction against Zillow’s new listing rules (what it calls “Listing Access Standards”), allowing the portal’s new rules to remain in effect while the broader antitrust lawsuit plays out. The decision delivers a significant legal setback for…

Ryan Schneider Exits Anywhere as Compass Acquisition Closes

Ryan Schneider, the CEO who guided Anywhere Real Estate through significant industry challenges and strategic repositioning, has departed the company per an agreement set as part of its acquisition by Compass in January. The move was not publicly announced by Anywhere, but Schneider updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his January exit.  Anywhere’s chief technology…

court

COURT REPORT: Gibson Plaintiffs Push for Settlement Approval; Consumer Class-Action Suit Filed Against Rocket Companies

Editor’s note: The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. Plaintiffs in consolidated commission case push for settlement approval Gibson v. NAR, the largest copycat case of the Burnett commission lawsuit filed in the same Missouri District Court overseen by Judge Stephen Bough,…

Keller Williams Reaches $20 Million Settlement in Batton Case

Keller Williams Realty, LLC has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by homebuyers alleging a decades-long conspiracy to fix real estate broker commissions and inflate home prices, according to court documents filed Feb. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The settlement provides monetary compensation…

Alliance

LGBTQ+ Alliance Escalates Case Against Former CEO With New Defamation, Tortious Interference Claims

The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance has filed a First Amended Complaint against former CEO Ryan A. Weyandt in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, seeking substantial damages across eight counts, and claiming he misappropriated the organization’s valuable 10,000-member customer list and engaged in a pattern of false statements designed to damage its…

liberty

Class-Action Suit Targets Liberty Financial Over Unsolicited Robocall Loan Offers

A federal class-action complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Jan. 16 accuses MC James Mortgage Corp, doing business as Liberty Financial, of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by placing unsolicited prerecorded calls promoting loan products. The suit, brought by Illinois-based David Torres on behalf of…

Third Point

Hedge Fund Third Point Calls for New CoStar Board and Exit From Residential Space

Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point has launched a proxy fight against CoStar Group, nominating multiple directors to the company’s board and demanding the real estate giant exit its residential business entirely. In a letter released this morning, Third Point announced it would seek to replace a majority of CoStar’s eight-person board, marking…