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EXp Realty has until next week to submit documents related to a $34 million national antitrust settlement that home sale plaintiffs in Missouri court say was a “sweet deal” for the real estate brokerage.
On January 8, after oral arguments, Judge Stephen R. Baugh of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri issued a November order requiring plaintiffs in the commission case known as Gibson to submit settlement materials. It denied eXp’s motion to reconsider. “In camera” examination in court. “On-camera” means Mr. Baugh will be viewing the material privately in his room.
The settlement at issue is in a separate fee lawsuit known as Hooper filed in Georgia against eXp and other real estate brokerages. The proposed settlement covers similar antitrust claims nationwide, including those involving Gibson.
But the Gibson plaintiffs accuse eXp of reaching an “improper sweetheart deal” with Hooper through a “reverse auction.” Auctioning is a practice in which a defendant selects a plaintiff’s attorney from among a competing class to negotiate the lowest possible settlement amount. EXp denied the allegations.
In Wednesday’s order, Baugh said that because eXp sought a stay in the Gibson case after reaching a settlement in the Hooper case, “we will review the Hooper documents” to determine whether a reverse auction occurred and, therefore, whether a stay is appropriate. “A review is necessary,” he said. .
“eXp claims that the facts presented by the plaintiffs are “baseless,” but the plaintiffs base their claims on publicly available financial information, the timing of the Hooper settlement after the plaintiffs and eXp concluded negotiations, , based on statements made in an October 8, 2024 phone call from Hooper’s plaintiff’s attorney to plaintiff’s attorney that eXp’s finances were not considered in the settlement negotiations,” Baugh wrote. order.
Mr. Baugh added that the Gibson plaintiffs had presented “plausible evidence that raises the real issue that eXp participated in the reverse auction.”
As such, Bo ordered eXp Realty and its parent company, eXp World Holdings, to submit documents within seven days of the Jan. 8 order.
Meanwhile, also on January 8, the Hooper plaintiffs filed a motion in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Atlanta, seeking preliminary approval of a settlement with eXp and three other intermediaries. The intermediaries and settlement amounts are as follows.
Experience: $34 million Weichert: $8.5 million Atlanta Community Real Estate: $800,000 Mark Spanish Real Estate: $750,000
“[T]He proposed that the settlement agreement is fair, reasonable, sufficient, and consistent with other settlements that have recently received preliminary or final approval in similar class actions in Missouri.” the attorney wrote in the motion.
“As with these settlements, the parties here have negotiated a settlement that resolves plaintiffs’ claims for damages and injunctions against the Settlement Defendants on a national basis for alleged anticompetitive conduct in the residential real estate brokerage services market.”
Plaintiffs’ lawyers argue that the proposed agreement “results in meaningful changes in practice” that reflect what was held in Sitzer | A $44.05 million settlement will be paid in addition to the Burnett and Gibson settlements.
The motion emphasizes that the plaintiffs reached their respective agreements “through extensive negotiations,” and that the agreements regarding eXp and Weichert in particular were reached only after intense mediation with respected mediators. ”
Additionally, the filing emphasizes that the transaction was reached after a “thorough financial analysis of each settling defendant’s ability to pay a larger monetary judgment or larger settlement amount.”
“This settlement takes into account the financial condition of Hiertech, eXp, Weichert, and Atlanta Communities and the limited resources available to each to satisfy the settlement relative to the potential damages. Then, it is fair and reasonable,” the motion states. .
“Plaintiffs received financial records from each of the Settlement Defendants and carefully reviewed and analyzed them.”
The proposed settlement class of transactions includes residential property listings on multiple property listing services in the United States where commissions were paid to brokers in connection with the sale of homes between October 31, 2019 and the class date. Includes people who sold their homes. News.
“Plaintiffs and class counsel believe that the asserted claims have merit and that the evidence developed to date supports them,” the motion says.
“However, plaintiffs and their attorneys also recognize the myriad risks and delays of further proceedings in such a complex case, and believe the settlement will provide significant benefits to class settlement members.”
The transaction resolves fee-related antitrust claims against the Settlement Defendants, their parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliated entities, affiliated franchisees and independent contractors.
“While the Settlement Defendants deny the material allegations in the Complaint and deny any wrongdoing, they wish to avoid the time, expense, uncertainty, and risk associated with further litigation,” the complaint states. are.
After the deal receives preliminary approval, the law firms representing the plaintiffs, Knight Palmer and Kabat Chapman & Osmer, will ask the court to pay up to 20 percent of the settlement amount plus costs as attorneys’ fees, according to the filing. He plans to request that it be given to him. .
“This compares favorably with other settlements reached in the Gibson case, where class counsel received 33.3% of the settlement amount, resulting in a substantially greater benefit to the Settled Class in this case,” the filing states. is stated.
Inman has reached out to eXp for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
Read the pre-approval motion (reload the page if the document does not appear).
Email Andrea V. Brambilla.
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