HousingWireHousingWire
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) may have had its home seller commission lawsuit settlement agreement approved, but that does not mean it is free from the homebuyer commission lawsuits.
Last week, as Judge Stephen R. Bough was issuing his final approval of NAR’s settlement, the plaintiffs in the Batton 2 homebuyer commission suit filed their second amended complaint.
While the complaint did not include any adjustments to the plaintiffs’ arguments or allegations, it did include 22 new named plaintiffs hailing from 19 different states, bringing the total number of named plaintiffs in the suit to 31.
The new plaintiffs are from Colorado, North Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Utah, New Hampshire, California, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Virginia, South Carolina, Michigan, Oregon, Connecticut, New York and Washington, D.C.
Filed roughly 13 months ago in early November 2023, Batton 2 is the second suit filed by the same plaintiffs who filed the Batton 1 suit in January 2021.
In their complaint, the Batton 2 plaintiffs claim that “for decades, homebuyers across America have been unwittingly paying too much for, and receiving too little from, services offered to them by real estate agent members of National Association of Realtors.”
Additionally, the suit claims that the alleged conduct of its defendants, which include Compass, eXp Realty, Redfin, Weichert Realtors and United Real Estate, “causes America’s homebuyers to pay inflated commissions for broker services they misrepresent as free, to pay inflated prices for the homes they purchase, and to receive reduced quality broker services.”
Along with filing their second amended complaint in Batton 2, the plaintiffs are also looking to file a second amended complaint in Batton 1. In response, Judge LaShonda Hunt informed the parties that she was taking the motion under advisement. The defendants in the Batton 1 suit include NAR, HomeServices of America, RE/MAX, Keller Williams and Anywhere.
