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A federal judge made quick work of signing off on the 15 combined settlements of two commission-related antitrust cases Tuesday afternoon.
On June 24, Judge Stephen R. Bough of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted final approval to deals reached in two cases known as Keel and Gibson after their lead plaintiffs.
The first hearing, for the Gibson case, lasted 18 minutes, from 1:30 p.m. to 1:48 p.m. With the final approval, six defendants in that case have now resolved the claims against them: NextHome, Inc.; The Keyes Company and Illustrated Properties; John L. Scott Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., and John L. Scott, Inc.; The K Company Realty, which does business as LoKation; Real Estate One; and Baird & Warner Real Estate.
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The second hearing, for the Keel case, was even shorter: 11 minutes, from 2:29 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. The judge’s order resolves claims against these nine defendants: Side Inc.; House of Seven Gables Real Estate; Washington Fine Properties; JPAR Real Estate Services and affiliated firms; Signature Premier Properties; First Team Real Estate-Orange County; Sibcy Cline; Brooklyn New York Multiple Listing Service (Brooklyn MLS); and Central New York Information Service (CNYIS).
A group of homesellers first filed the Keel case in January, at which time they also proposed a settlement that would see the defendants pay a combined total of $10,570,000. The case ended up on a fast-track, at least compared to other suits, and by February the proposed settlements had received preliminary approval.
Gibson is a somewhat higher-profile case because it was the first of the so-called copycat suits — or lawsuits filed immediately after a jury in 2023 agreed with homesellers that the National Association of Realtors and major franchisors engaged in anticompetitive practices.
Bough granted preliminary approval to the Gibson settlement in April.
Read Bough’s order in the Keel case here:
Read Bough’s order in Gibson here:
