Final judgment puts a bow on NAR commissions deal
Court documents lay out the details of the landmark Sitzer/Burnett settlement, including who’s in (covered parties and opt-ins) and sellers who opted out.
It's a wrap: A Jan. 30 filing in Sitzer/Burnett summarizes the final details of a case that reshaped residential real estate after five years of litigation and a jury verdict that took much of the industry by surprise.
The defendants — The National Association of Realtors, Anywhere, RE/MAX, HomeServices of America and Keller Williams — settled for a combined total of more than $876 million, and NAR's deal encompassed hundreds MLSs and Realtor associations as well as thousands of smaller brokerage firms and member agents.
The final judgment, signed by Judge Stephen Bough on Jan. 15 and filed this week, (mostly) closes the door on sell-side commissions litigation for the covered parties, including in other cases that named the same defendants, such as Moehrl and Nosalek.
Of the huge pool of eligible class members, 40 sellers opted out and could choose to pursue future litigation on their own.
"In accordance with the judge's order granting final settlement approval" — which occurred in November 2024 — "judgment is entered on behalf of the following class to whom notice was directed, except those who have timely and validly excluded themselves from the matter," the filing states.
Thousands of sellers across the US can cash in: The final judgment says the $1 billion-plus combined settlement — including payouts from the named defendants in Sitzer/Burnett, non-Realtor MLSs and associations who opted into the deal, and defendants in related cases — applies to all persons who "sold a home that was listed on a multiple listing service anywhere in the United States where a commission was paid to any brokerage in connection with the sale of a home" within certain date ranges, all ending August 17, 2024, when NAR's rule changes took effect.
That includes sellers whose homes were listed on MLS PIN, which reached a separate, but not-yet-approved settlement in 2023 that continues to churn through the legal system, or listed on other non-Realtor MLSs that specifically opted out, such as Northwest MLS in Washington state.
"For the avoidance of doubt, this injunction extends to claims arising from or relating to transactions where Settlement Class Members either sold or purchased a home on any multiple listing service nationwide, regardless of affiliation or association with NAR or not, and thus includes, e.g., NWMLS, WPMLS, and REBNY/RLS," the filing states.
The filing includes a list of the brokerages and MLSs that opted into the settlement and those that were covered under the deal.
Who is not covered: The judgment resolves commissions litigation involving sellers (apart from the 40 who opted out) — including those who also bought a home during the covered time periods — but there are still lawsuits moving forward on the buy side, albeit slowly.
And on the sell-side, some defendants have yet to settle or are still in the approval process, including eXp and Weichert, whose deals have been challenged.
Also, the settlement does not "extend to any individual claims that a plaintiff or class member may have against his or her own broker or agent based on breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, malpractice, negligence or other tort claim, other than a claim that a class member paid an excessive commission or home price due to the claims at issue in the Actions" — meaning that agents and brokerages can still be on the hook for other issues, including claims resulting from their failure to comply with the terms of NAR's settlement.