Lawsuits

Lawsuits – Class Action

March 6, 2019 - Six law firms representing

Shorewood, Minnesota resident Christopher
Moehrl filed a complaint related to the sale of
his home on November 15, 2017, listed
in NorthstarMLS.
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Moehrl entered into a listing agreement with his
seller’s broker (a RE/MAX franchise) that specified
he would compensate the listing
broker for helping to market and sell the home for a
commission of 6 percent of the purchase price. The
listing agreement further specified that the listing
broker would keep 3.3 percent of the commission
and share 2.7 percent with a buyer’s brokerage
(which ended up being a Keller Williams Realty
franchise.)
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The original complaint alleged that the
National Association of Realtors (NAR),
Realogy, RE/MAX, HomeServices of
America and Keller Williams Realty are
violating Section 1 of the US Sherman
Antitrust Act, by requiring a “blanket,
nonnegotiable offer of buyer broker
compensation” when listing a property on the
MLS, which the suit calls the “Buyer Broker
Commission Rule.”
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The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, seeks
class-action status on behalf of homesellers who
paid a broker commission in the last four years
(since March 6, 2015) in connection with the sale
and listing of their home in one of 20 Realtor
association-owned MLSs. Many of the listed MLSs
are among
the country’s largest, including Bright MLS in the
Mid-Atlantic region and Stellar MLS in mid-
Florida.
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The MLSs are not listed as defendants in the
lawsuit, but as co-conspirators
because they allegedly adopt, comply with
and implement what the suit calls the “Buyer
Broker Commission Rule”. Although they are
not currently defendants, any one of them
could be responsible for paying damages and
found as defendants at a later point.
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In April 2019, another nearly identical
complaint from homeseller
Sawbill Strategic Inc, also in the US District
Court’s Northern District of Illinois.

On June 16, 2019, the Moerhl and Sawbill

complaints merged and added
six additional homeseller plaintiffs in a
consolidated and amended
suit.
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The same month a third homeseller, Sitzer
and Winger, filed another suit, in the Western
District of Missouri, obviously copied from
the Illinois complaints.

(class definition covers sellers who listed

homes in 4 Mo. MLSs)
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September 6, 2019
Redfin begins displaying all buyer-broker
commissions on all its Seattle listings on its
website.

October 1, 2019
Redfin, Windermere Real Estate and
Coldwell Banker Bain begin displaying
buyer-broker commissions on all Northwest
MLS listings on their websites.