After HomeServices announced in April that it had reached a $250 million commission settlement, franchisors and plaintiffs gave different reasons for why a commission settlement had not yet been finalized.
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Real estate franchise HomeServices of America and plaintiffs in a major antitrust commission lawsuit have yet to reach an actual settlement agreement, according to court documents filed Monday.
It has been 2.5 months since HomeServices, which has nearly 70,000 agents, announced a $250 million settlement on April 26.
The amount agreed to by HomeServices is the second-largest settlement of any defendant in the Sitzer | case. The Burnett case is the only lawsuit to go to trial and win a multibillion-dollar verdict in favor of the home seller plaintiffs. The National Association of Realtors agreed to pay the largest settlement, $418 million.
On April 29, the franchisor and the plaintiffs in the Moehrl case notified the court that they had “entered into a binding term sheet” to resolve all claims against HomeServices and its subsidiaries as part of negotiations with the Moehrl plaintiffs. Part of a proposed nationwide settlement and other similar cases known as Sitzer | Burnett, Gibson and Umpah.
The parties said they will file a motion seeking preliminary approval of the deal in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, where Sitzer | Burnett case.
But as of July 8, HomeServices had not reached a settlement, according to a joint status report filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois, Northern District, where Mohr’s case was filed.
“The parties are continuing to work toward a long-term agreement and will seek preliminary and final approval of the settlement from the Burnett Court,” the filing reads.
The report did not explain why the transaction’s status did not change.
Chris Kelly (Image: Ebby Halliday)
Chris Kelly, executive vice president of HomeServices, said in a statement that the delay was due to plaintiffs’ attorneys settling with others before the NAR settlement deadline. Brokers and multiple listing services have until June 18 to opt into the deal.
“HomeServices and plaintiffs’ attorneys will continue to work in good faith to ultimately reach a long-term settlement agreement consistent with the term sheet we entered into,” Kelly told Inman.
“We understand that given the deadlines contained in the NAR Settlement Agreement, plaintiffs’ counsel have also been working with many other parties on the settlement agreement during this period. We look forward to presenting a settlement plan for the court’s consideration in the near future.
But Michael Ketchmark of Ketchmark & McCreight is the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Sitzer case. Burnett objects to that characterization.
Michael Kagemak
“We are currently working to resolve some disagreements with HomeServices’ attorneys regarding the company’s obligations under the settlement agreement,” Ketchmark told Inman in a statement.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with the plaintiff’s attorney’s schedule,” he added. “We hope the company honors its settlement obligations and protects its brokers. Hopefully we will have some court filings soon.
Ketchmark and HomeServices attorney Robert MacGill had some heated exchanges during Sitzer | Burnett’s trial is scheduled for October.
Also in the July 8 status report, the parties also noted that multiple opponents of the settlements with Keller Williams, Anywhere and RE/MAX have appealed the final approval of those transactions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
The court consolidated the briefing schedule for these appeals, giving home seller and home buyer appellants until August 26 to file opening briefs.
Read the joint status report:
Send an email to Andrea V. Brambila.
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