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Posted Date: Friday, April 26, 2024
HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway company, was the last defendant to settle the Sitzer-Burnett case where a jury awarded plaintiffs $1.78 billion for antitrust violations related to the National Association of Realtors’ cooperative compensation rule.
Other real estate companies that have settled this case include Keller Williams, RE/MAX, and Anywhere Real Estate. The news of this most recent settlement will add $250 million to the amounts negotiated with the other defendants for redress.
Read on for more details.
Posted Date: Thursday, April 18, 2024
HomeServices of America, the only defendant remaining in the Sitzer-Burnett trial related to real estate agent commissions and alleged antitrust violations, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the Eighth Circuit erred when it rejected HomeServices' efforts to compel arbitration.
HomeServices’s petition for writ of certiorari argued the broker should never have had to face a trial, because the home sellers agreed to arbitrate disputes out of court.
Read on for more details.
Posted Date: Monday, April 15, 2024
As all but one party has settled in a case where the National Association of Realtors and major real estate brokerages were found liable by a jury for antitrust violations, the plaintiffs moved for entry of judgment.
HomeServices of America, the remaining defendant in the case, argued this action was premature, and stated final judgment should not be entered until the other parties’ proposed settlements were approved.
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Posted Date: Monday, April 15, 2024
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation denied the transfer of nine actions in seven districts related to allegations of antitrust violations against the National Association of Realtors and real estate brokerage companies.
The denial means the cases will continue in their individual districts, for the time being.
Read on for more details.
Posted Date: Thursday, April 11, 2024
The Real Brokerage, one of the real estate companies named in an antitrust class action filed in the wake of Sitzer-Burnett, has entered into a settlement to resolve the case.
The settlement is related to the National Association of Realtor’s competitive compensation rule and the relationship between brokers and multiple listing services.
Read on for more details.
Posted Date: Thursday, April 11, 2024
A woman who is disabled sued the Lake County Housing Commission Lake County, Calif., alleging the housing agency discriminated against her in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws because it refused to provide her with homeownership assistance.
The homeownership option is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 program that permits housing authorities to offer homebuying assistance to low-income families, but the defending agency did not participate in that portion of the program.
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Posted Date: Monday, April 8, 2024
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held in favor of the Department of Justice (DOJ), stating it is permitted to reopen an antitrust investigation of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which the department had entered into a settlement with in 2020.
Less than a year after the settlement was announced, the DOJ withdrew its proposed consent judgment and attempted to reopen the investigation. NAR petitioned the district court to set aside a new subpoena, arguing it was a violation of a promise made by the DOJ in its 2020 closing letter.
To learn more about the 2-1 appellate decision, read on.
Posted Date: Monday, April 8, 2024
Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) after the agency refused to exempt risk-based insurance practices from its 2013 disparate impact rule. Several claims in the case were dismissed in 2014, but the district judge who decided the case agreed with PCI that HUD had not adequately considered the issues at stake and ordered further analysis.
Since that dismissal, HUD’s 2013 disparate impact, or discriminatory effects, rule was repealed, then reinstated in 2023. In this most recent case, PCI maintained HUD’s rule was arbitrary and capricious, for the same reasons PCI believed so in 2013.
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Posted Date: Thursday, April 4, 2024
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) and its CEO Mat Ishbia are under fire for allegedly violating RESPA and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, aka RICO, along with other claims, according to a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Michigan.
The suit was filed by borrowers seeking class certification. They accused UWM of “orchestrating and executing a deliberate scheme, in coordination with a host of corrupted mortgage brokers, to cheat hundreds of thousands of borrowers out of billions of dollars in excess fees and costs that they paid to finance their homes.”
Read on to learn more about the accusations.
Posted Date: Thursday, April 4, 2024
An underwriter plaintiff filed a single complaint in the U.S. District Court of the District of Maryland, requesting declaratory judgment determining it has neither a duty to defend nor a duty to indemnify a mortgage lender currently embroiled in a RESPA class action.
The suit involved a professional services liability policy sold to the lender in 2020, covering the period from Oct. 15, 2020, to Oct. 15, 2021.
Read on for more details.