Las Vegas Realtors vows to ‘produce a victory’ in Nevada cases
The 17,000-member association speaks out, saying it will “vigorously defend” two lawsuits targeting NAR, Nevada associations and MLSs, and brokerages.
Las Vegas Realtors remains committed to fighting two Nevada commissions lawsuits as the association's attorneys map out a strategy.
The 17,000-member Realtor association made its first public statement this week regarding the two cases known as Whaley and Boykin. Both cases were brought by home sellers and list the National Association of Realtors, Nevada real estate associations, and national and local brokerages as defendants.
In a statement on the Las Vegas Realtors website, President Merri Perry said she believes NAR will aggressively oppose any lawsuits and that the Las Vegas association will continue to do so as well.
"NAR, local associations like LVR and Multiple Listing Services don't set real estate commissions, and they never will," Perry said in the statement.
Speaking out: The statement from LVR is notable, as few associations and MLSs named in the many buyer agent commissions lawsuits have made public comments.
Most organizations have made their arguments through legal filings or in the courtroom, including several who submitted responses to the U.S. District Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation as it considers consolidating the copycat cases.
Offers of compensation: LVR had previously required listing brokers to make a specific offer of compensation to the buyer agent when listing a property on the MLS, according to the statement. The offer could be as little as one cent, but recent changes now permit a listing broker to offer zero dollars.
"We have never attempted to dictate, or even to suggest, how much should be offered in cooperative compensation beyond a single cent. We believe that our conduct has been, and continues to be, entirely lawful — and that it promotes efficiency in real estate transactions for the benefit of sellers and buyers alike. For that reason, we will vigorously defend the lawsuit," the statement read.
Court strategy: The association also infomed membership of its strategy to tackle the two cases. LVR is waiting to hear whether the Multidistrict Litigation panel will merge the nine cases originally proposed for consolidation, consider NAR's request to consolidate all cases, or deny the request to consolidate. Oral arguments are scheduled for March 28.
If the two cases remain in Nevada, the LVR plans to request that those cases be consolidated.
"We will do whatever we can to produce a victory for LVR and the MLS in both cases," LVR stated.