While the homebuyer commission lawsuits continue to be a thorn in the side of the real estate industry, three corporate brokerages have at least for now recorded a small win. On Wednesday, Chicago-based U.S. District Court Judge LaShonda Hunt, who is overseeing both Batton suits after Judge Andrea Wood recused herself in early September, granted RE/MAX, Keller Williams and Anywhere’s joint motion to stay the case during a status hearing.
The three corporate brokerage defendants filed their motion to stay the case in mid-June, after Judge Stephen Bough, who is overseeing the Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson/Umpa suits, granted final approval of the three firms’ nationwide home seller commission lawsuit settlement agreements.
In their motion to stay the case, the three corporate brokerage defendants wrote that the final approval order of their nationwide settlements in the Sitzer/Burnett and Moehrl suits states that “non-excluded Settlement Class Members are ‘hereby enjoined from filing, commencing, prosecuting, intervening in, or pursuing as a plaintiff or class member any Released Claims against any of the Released Parties, which include Settling Defendants’ franchisees and affiliated brokerages, and agents affiliated with those franchisees or affiliated brokerages,’” and that upon information presented James Mullis, Mya Batton, and Theodore Bisbicos, would be considered non-excluded Settlement Class Members.
Additionally, the brokerage defendants note that Mullis filed an appeal of the final approval of the firms’ settlement. As such, they argued that in order to “preserve judicial and party resources” and to “account for the possibility that any appeal may reverse or modify the Final Approval Order,” the court should stay the case as to the claims of Mullis, Batton and Bisbicos.
In addition to granting their motion to stay the suit, Hunt noted that she has taken the defendants’ motions to dismiss the suit for lack of personal jurisdiction under advisement and that the court is planning to reach a decision within the next 30 days. This is positive news for the suit’s other defendant, the National Association of Realtors, who has also settled the home seller commission lawsuits. Its settlement has been granted preliminary approval and is up for final approval on Nov. 26, 2024.
The sister suit of Batton 1, Batton 2, was not stayed, but Hunt also took the motions to dismiss that suit under advisement. Additionally, the entry in the court docket notes that the “parties have agreed that Defendants need not begin collecting, reviewing, and producing documents and Plaintiffs will not file any discovery motions until the Court rules on the pending motions.”
The defendants in the Batton 2 suit include Compass, eXp World Holdings, Redfin, Weichert Realtors and United Real Estate. Howard Hanna and Douglas Elliman were named as defendants when the suit was filed, but each have been dismissed. HomeServices of America, which was a defendant in the Batton 1 suit, was also dismissed from that case earlier this year.
The discovery process for each of the Batton suits is not scheduled to be completed until May 2026, over five years since the original Batton suit was filed.
