15 more commissions settlements on track for final approval
Several smaller brokerages and two MLSs named in the Keel and Gibson cases are scheduled for a final hearing on June 24.
While the biggest settlements in the commissions lawsuits were approved last fall, several smaller deals are now getting closer to the finish line.
Keel moving toward approval: The lawsuit known as Keel was simultaneously filed and settled on Jan. 27, seemingly to capture a set of agreements already in the works. Those deals have now received preliminary approval from Judge Stephen Bough, the Missouri U.S. District Court judge handling the Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson cases.
The case was originally assigned to Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. but reassigned to Bough on Feb. 3.
A final approval hearing in the Keel case is scheduled for June 24 in Kansas City and will include settlements for seven brokerages and two MLSs totaling $11.47 million.
The new addition: The first round of settlements in Keel covered six brokerages, but in an amended complaint filed last week, Sibcy Cline Inc. was added to the list of defendants. The brokerage also quickly settled and agreed to pay $895,000 into the settlement fund.
Sibcy Cline, which serves the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana regions, has been family-owned and operated since 1930, according to the company. It has 19 branch offices and more than 1,000 agents.
It joins Side Inc., Washington Fine Properties, First Team Real Estate, House of Seven Gables Real Estate, Signature Properties of Huntington, Carin Real Estate Holdings, Central New York Information Service and Brooklyn New York MLS as defendants who reached settlement agreements in the case.
Six more Gibson settlements approved: Bough also gave preliminary approval to settlements reached by several smaller brokerages in the Gibson case — The Keyes Company, NextHome, John L. Scott Real Estate, The K Company Realty, Real Estate One and Baird & Warner — which will begin sending out class notices.
The final settlement hearing for those firms is also scheduled for June 24.
Nine other brokerages named in the Gibson suit, including Compass, Redfin and Real, already received final approval on Oct. 31, paying out more than $110 million in damages. But several key defendants remain, including Howard Hanna, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, William Raveis and others, despite their repeated efforts to get the case thrown out.
Two other Gibson defendants — Weichert and eXp — reached settlements in a separate case, but those deals have come under scrutiny.