Taking on the established real estate industry takes a lot of time…and apparently a lot of money. The plaintiff attorneys in the landmark Sitzer-Burnett commission suit have filed a motion in federal court seeking $82.4 million in legal fees.
Attorneys from the three firms representing the plaintiffs include Williams Dirks Dameron, Boulware Law and Ketchmark & McCreight. They argue that the firms put in nearly 96,500 hours of labor over the course of five years on the case, plus an additional $13 million in out-of-pocket costs.
The request of $82.4 million amounts to 39.5 percent of the $208.5 million settlement fund.
“That was time and money spent and invested on behalf of the Settlement Class that could have been spent on less risky cases, where liability or damages were more certain, or where the claims had been advanced by previous litigation, government prosecutions or public admissions,” the motion said.
Last month, Keller Williams became the latest defendant to reach a settlement in the suit, agreeing to pay $70 million and change business practices moving forward. As we previously reported, last fall, RE/MAX and Anywhere announced that their respective settlement offers had received preliminary approval from the courts. Anywhere said it would settle Sitzer-Burnett and Moehrl for $83.5 million, while RE/MAX announced it’s settling for $55 million.