It took less than three hours for a Missouri jury to find the National Association of Realtors and their co-defendant brokerages guilty in the landmark Sitzer-Burnett class-action case. And with it, more than $1.78 billion in damages are to be paid to recent sellers. The verdict allows the court to issue treble damages, which means damages could grow to more than $5 billion.
Along with NAR, the jury found Anywhere, Keller Williams, RE/MAX, HomeServices of America and two of its subsidiaries, HSF Affiliates and BHH Affiliates, were all implicated and acted with “the purpose or effect of raising, inflating, or stabilizing broker commission rates paid by home sellers.”
Under the verdict, sellers would no longer be required to pay their buyers’ agents, and agents would be free to set their own commission rates. NAR said it plans to appeal the verdict, with the New York Times reporting that NAR president Tracy Kasper wrote in an internal company memo that, “We remain confident we will ultimately prevail.”
Inman is also reporting that the homeseller-plaintiffs’ attorney, Michael Ketchmark, has already filed a new class action lawsuit against another group of big-name real estate entities, including Compass, eXp World Holdings, Redfin and Douglas Elliman.
Check back for updates on this developing story.