The combined deals, which total nearly $5 million, are the next step in resolving litigation for the four firms with regional and national footprints.
Dave Gallagher2 minutes
Preliminary settlement agreements were filed for four more brokerages in the Gibson/Umpa commissions case, pushing the total settlement fund to more than $1 billion.
Last week, the judge overseeing the case gave final approval to nine other settlements worth around $110 million despite a number of objections to the deals.
The new additions: The combined settlement amount for the four brokerages is just under $5 million, according to court documents filed Nov. 4:
-
The Keyes Company, based in Florida — $2.4 million
-
John L. Scott, based in Washington and serving the Pacific Northwest — $1 million
-
The K Company Realty LLC (doing business as LoKation), based in Florida with offices in five additional states — $925,000
-
NextHome, based in California with offices nationwide — $600,000
The amounts do not appear to be directly tied to the firms' sales volume, which ranged from roughly $5 billion (LoKation) to $11 billion (John L. Scott) in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the Real Estate Almanac.
Firms with sales volume exceeding $2 billion were not covered by NAR's deal and could choose to opt in to the settlement or negotiate their own deals.
More settlements coming: In the filing submitted to the U.S. District Court in Missouri, the plaintiffs said they expect to announce additional settlements soon. They asked the court to hold off on setting a Class Notice deadline so those upcoming settlements could be combined with the four filed yesterday.
Once the settlements receive preliminary approval from U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Bough, a final hearing will be scheduled.
Settlement tally: Final approval has been given to 12 brokerage settlements totaling more than $318 million.
The biggest settlements — those from the National Association of Realtors and HomeServices of America — have a final hearing scheduled for Nov. 26. Those two proposed settlements total $668 million, rising to nearly $700 million when the opt-ins from multiple listing services and other brokerages are included.
