Nearly two years to the day since Keller Williams settled the home seller commission lawsuits, the firm has announced a settlement with the Batton homebuyer commission lawsuit plaintiffs. The company announced its settlement agreement on Monday.
As part of the nationwide settlement agreement, Keller Williams will pay $20 million. The firm did not disclose any other terms of the settlement, but a company spokesperson clarified that it did not include any new business practice changes.
According to the firm, under the terms of the settlement all “KWRI franchisees, agents, and teams are released from antitrust claims by all persons who purchased residential real estate that was listed on a MLS during the relevant time period.” The start date of the relevant time period varies depending on the location, starting as early as January 25, 2006 for Puerto Rico and as recently as January 25, 2019 for homebuyers in Texas.
Keller Williams is the first of the Batton defendants to settle the lawsuit. In an email sent to Keller Williams leaders and U.S.-based agents and obtained by HousingWire, Keller Williams’ CEO Chris Czarnecki noted that the goal of the settlement was to eliminate uncertainty for Keller Williams’ franchisees and agents.
“We came to the decision to settle with careful consideration for the immediate and long-term well-being of our franchisees and agents and the business model they depend on. It was a decision to bring certainty and allow everyone at KW to focus on our mission without distractions,” Czarnecki wrote. “It allows us all to turn our attention back to what we do best: delivering unparalleled value in an ever-evolving real estate market.”
Other defendants in the Batton 1 lawsuit include Anywhere Real Estate, REMAX and the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
In 2023, after the real estate industry was found liable for colluding to artificially inflate agent commission in the Sitzer/Burnett home seller commission lawsuit, the Batton plaintiffs filed a second lawsuit, known as Batton 2, against Compass, eXp World Holdings, Redfin, Weichert Realtors, United Real Estate, Howard Hanna and Douglas Elliman. While some of these firms have since been dismissed from the Batton suit, they have been named in other homebuyer commission lawsuits with identical claims.
The Batton 1 lawsuit was filed in January 2021 by Judah Leeder and later amended in July 2022 with Batton as the lead plaintiff. Like the home seller commission lawsuits, this suit alleges that NAR’s policies have inflated agent commissions, resulting in higher home prices paid by homebuyers.
While Keller Williams is the first brokerage to settle either of the Batton lawsuits, several other brokerages have settled a separate homebuyer commission lawsuit known as Cwynar. Brokerage defendants who have settled that lawsuit include Real Brokerage, @properties, Baird & Warner, Real Estate One, Silvercreek Realty Group, Equity Real Estate, NextHome, Realty Executives, Shorewest, Side, Engel & Volkers Americas and Engel & Volkers GMBH.
In an emailed statement, Darryl Frost, a spokesperson from Keller Williams, wrote that the firm was pleased to reach a nationwide settlement in this lawsuit.
“Keller Williams has always been focused on building a place where entrepreneurs can thrive,” Frost wrote. “As we move past this settled lawsuit, all of us at Keller Williams are focused on what we do best: empowering our entrepreneurs to continue delivering exceptional value in this rapidly evolving market.”
The settlement must still be approved by the court and could potentially face objections and appeals.
Keller Williams previously settled the home seller commission lawsuit via an agreement with the Sitzer/Burnett plaintiffs in February 2024 for $70 million.
