New York Luxury firm Douglas Elliman has reached a settlement to resolve remaining homebuyer claims in a buyer copycat case known as Tuccori, according to a court document filed April 9. The settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, allows Douglas Elliman to resolve residential homebuyer claims that were…
As largely expected, inflation has surged this past month. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew 0.9% from February to March, with annual inflation at 3.3%. This is a drastic increase from the 0.3% increase seen in February, when annual inflation was 2.4%. Separately, another measure of inflation through the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index…
In the Gibson v. NAR commission lawsuit (the largest and first Burnett copycat) before Judge Stephen R. Bough in the Western District of Missouri, Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company (BHE)—parent company of HomeServices of America (HSA)—just had the court deny their request for summary judgment. BHE first filed a motion for summary judgment on March 4,…
Editor’s note: The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. eXp, Weichert get settlement sign-off in copycat lawsuit A federal judge granted final approval to a series of commission-related antitrust settlements involving several real estate brokerages, bringing an end to the cases after…
The legal battle between Northwest MLS (NWMLS) and Compass escalated this past week as NWMLS filed counterclaims in federal court, accusing the nation’s largest residential brokerage of violating Washington’s Consumer Protection Act, fraudulent misrepresentation and tortious interference—charges Compass swiftly dismissed as retaliation by a “monopolist” protecting its own turf. The counterclaims, filed April 2 in…
A federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia has granted final approval to a series of commission-related antitrust settlements involving several real estate brokerages, bringing an end to the cases after a prolonged fight between two groups of plaintiffs and accusations that the companies negotiated “sweetheart” deals. The dispute stems from a broader clash…
Editor’s note: The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. Judge dismisses most claims in Louisiana three-way agreement antitrust suit A federal judge dismissed most of the claims in an antitrust lawsuit brought by four Louisiana real estate brokers who challenged the National…
A federal judge has dismissed the majority of federal claims in an antitrust lawsuit brought by four Louisiana real estate brokers challenging the National Association of Realtors®’ (NAR) mandatory three-way membership requirement for MLS access—though the door remains open for the plaintiffs to refile some of those claims. Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick of the…
In today’s market, trust is often the deciding factor in whether a client chooses to move forward with an agent or keep looking. And that trust is usually built, or lost, in the very first conversation. While experience and production matter, how agents show up in those early interactions can make all the difference. First…
A federal judge in Seattle has paused the discovery process in a high-stakes class-action lawsuit against Zillow, and gave at least some signal that the case could get tossed in its entirety relatively soon. U.S. District Judge James L. Robart granted Zillow’s request to pause discovery on March 23, halting all fact-gathering in the case…
Some homeowners think selling their properties with no agent will save gobs of money on commissions. Almost always they come to regret it, settling on a price that could have been better, not to mention spending way more time on the process than they envisioned Read more.
