Howard Hanna dismissed from Pennsylvania commissions case
West Penn MLS was also dismissed, with the judge ruling there was no evidence of a conspiracy between the parties to fix rates.
Howard Hanna notched another win as it continues to fight copycat commission cases in court.
The family-owned brokerage, along with West Penn MLS and Everest Consulting Group LP, was dismissed with prejudice from a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania.
The Moratis case (formerly known as Spring Way and then Kay) is similar to the other home seller cases that allege a conspiracy to keep commission fees inflated.
Why the judge ruled to dismiss: In laying out his decision, Judge William Stickman IV cited the defendants' argument that there was no existence of an agreement — and thus no evidence of a conspiracy — between the defendants. Stickman also noted that the rules established by West Penn MLS and followed by Howard Hanna did not require home sellers to pay a buyer-broker commission.
"The buyer broker rule simply requires that the listing disclose the compensation, if any, that the buyer broker will receive," Stickman said in an Oct. 7 filing. A key difference between this case — in which West Penn MLS offered an option to put a zero in the compensation field — and those naming NAR as a defendant was that NAR required listing brokers to offer some amount of compensation to the buyer broker.
Stickman said the plaintiffs also failed to establish that there was an agreement related to allegations about steering; without such an agreement, the Sherman Antitrust Act would not apply. Additionally, the three home sellers named as case representatives paid different commission fee percentages, which appeared to undermine the claim of a conspiracy to fix rates.
West Penn's deal: Perhaps to avoid further litigation, West Penn MLS was one of 15 non-Realtor multiple listing services that opted into the National Association of Realtors settlement over the summer, agreeing to pay $895,000 in damages.
Where things stand with Howard Hanna: The brokerage was previously dismissed from the Gibson lawsuit, prior to its merger with Umpa, as well as one of the Batton cases, which involves homebuyers rather than sellers.
Hanna Holdings remains a defendant in the Umpa case, which was later merged with Gibson. The company has not settled that case.