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Plaintiffs’ attorneys in the Gibson copycat commission lawsuit are seeking $36.8 million, or one-third of the $110.6 million total settlement in the case, according to documents filed on Tuesday.
This amount is only for the Gibson suit, which was combined with the Umpa suit in April, as the settlements for this suit are separate from the ones negotiated with the Sitzer/Burnett and Moehrl plaintiffs.
In the filings, the law firms of Ketchmark and McCreight, Williams Dirks Cameron, Cohen Millstein Sellers & Toll, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Susman Godfrey claim they spent 105,000 hours and a total of $13 million out of pocket since the original commission lawsuits were filed in 2019.
According to the filing, this work included reviewing millions of pages of documents, retaining 20 experts and consultants, and conducting about 180 depositions. The filings note that there were more than 2,400 docket entries in the four cases related to the Gibson suit.
“Class Counsel are a diverse group of well-respected antitrust, complex litigation, and trial lawyers who spearheaded the litigation,” the filing states. “In doing so, Class Counsel were not able to rely on any governmental prosecutions or on preexisting litigation by other private attorneys.”
In addition to the $36.8 million, the plaintiffs’ attorneys are also asking for $13.1 million in expenses they said they incurred for all of the settlements, of which $12.9 million has already been awarded by Judge Stephen R. Bough in the Sitzer/Burnett suit. The roughly $200,000 in remaining expenses will be recouped by the five firms.
“These Settlements are the independent product of their wholly contingent, risky, costly, and time-intensive work seeking a recovery against Defendants, not the work of anyone else,” the attorneys wrote.
The defendants who have settled the Gibson suit include Compass, The Real Brokerage, Realty ONE Group, At World Properties, Douglas Elliman, Redfin, Engel & Völkers, HomeSmart Holdings and United Real Estate.
The attorneys estimate their expenses in the Gibson suit were closer to $90.8 million, nearly three times what they are charging, and that they passed on less risky work to take on these cases.
In previous filings, the plaintiffs indicated they had agreed to the one-third share. Additionally, their attorneys have signaled they will look to recover one-third of the $987.1 million settlement pool in the commission lawsuits, for a total of $329 million plus expenses.
According to filings, partners at Dirks Cameron earn an hourly rate of $1,250, paralegals earn $300 per hour and associates — one of whom spent more than 2,000 hours on the cases — earn $600 per hour.
Michael Ketchmark, the lead plaintiffs’ attorney in the Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson suits, wrote in filings that he spent nearly 7,000 hours on the cases. At his hourly rate of $1,450, he is looking to recoup $10.1 million for his work.
The attorney with highest hourly rate of those involved in the suit is Marc Seltzer of Susman Godfrey, who charges $2,200 per hour.
The filing noted that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has previously ruled that attorneys’ fees of 25% to 36% of the total settlement amount are appropriate for class-action suits.
The final approval date for the Gibson settlement is set for Oct. 31, which falls on the one-year anniversary of the jury verdict in the Sitzer/Burnett suit.
