William Raveis the latest to settle in commissions cases
Gibson home sellers join the brokerage in asking the court to put the suit on hold so they can file details as the judge faces a request to recuse himself.
Another large real estate brokerage has agreed to settle with home sellers over buyer agent commissions.
William Raveis Real Estate and the plaintiffs in the Gibson lawsuit filed a motion to stay the case on March 12 because of an impending settlement agreement.
Details of the settlement, including how much the brokerage will pay in damages, were not disclosed. The settlement fund currently has more than $1 billion in payouts from real estate brokerages, multiple listing services and the National Association of Realtors.
The two parties are expected to file a preliminary settlement agreement plan in the coming weeks.
William Raveis is an independent real estate brokerage that operates in several East Coast states. It was founded in 1974 and now has around 5,000 agents.
What about the other defendants? Several key defendants remain, including Howard Hanna and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, 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.
What else is happening in Gibson: Earlier in the week, attorneys for Howard Hanna filed a motion asking U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Bough to recuse himself from the case.
They said in a filing that Bough should be disqualified for failing to disclose that several plaintiff attorneys — including former lead class counsel Matthew Dameron — have made political campaign donations to Bough's wife, Andrea Bough. She is currently a Kansas City council member.
As of March 12, a ruling has not been made on the motion.