Almost two years to the day Keller Williams has settled real estate agent commission lawsuits, the company has announced a settlement with Batton’s homebuyer commission plaintiffs. The company announced its settlement agreement on Monday.
As part of the nationwide settlement, Keller Williams will pay $20 million. The company did not disclose other terms of the deal, but a company spokesperson clarified that it did not include any new business changes.
According to the firm, under the terms of the settlement all “KWRI brokers, agents, and parties are exempt from claims of bad faith by all persons who purchased a residence listed on the MLS during the relevant period.” The start date of the qualifying period varies by location, starting as early as January 25, 2006 in Puerto Rico and as recently as January 25, 2019 for home buyers in Texas.
Keller Williams is the first of the Batton defendants to settle the case. In an email sent to Keller Williams executives and agents based in the US and received by HousingWireKeller Williams CEO Chris Czarnecki noted that the purpose of the settlement was to eliminate uncertainty for Keller Williams traders and agents.
“We came to the decision to settle by carefully considering the immediate and long-term welfare of our franchisees and agents and the business model they rely on. It was a decision to bring certainty and allow everyone at KW to focus on our work without interruption,” wrote Czarnecki. “It allows us all to return our attention to what we do best: delivering unparalleled value in the ever-changing real estate market.”
Other defendants in the Batton 1 case include: Anywhere Buildings, REMAX as well as National Association of Realtors (NAR).
In 2023, after the real estate industry was found guilty of colluding with an agent’s commission in the Sitzer/Burnett real estate agent commission case, the Batton plaintiffs filed a second lawsuit, known as Batton 2, against it. The compass, Xp World Holdings share price, RedfinWeichert Realtors, United Real Estate, Howard Hanna again Douglas Elliman. Although some of these companies have been excluded from Batton’s plans, they have been named in other home buyer commission lawsuits with similar claims.
The Batton 1 lawsuit was filed in January 2021 by Judah Leeder and later amended in July 2022 with Batton as the lead plaintiff. Like real estate agent commission lawsuits, this lawsuit alleges that NAR’s policies caused agents’ commissions to skyrocket, resulting in higher real estate prices paid by buyers.
Although Keller Williams was the first broker to settle any of the Batton cases, several other brokerages settled a separate buyer’s commission case known as Cwynar. The brokerage defendants who have settled that case include Real Brokerage, @properties, Baird & Warner, Real Estate One, Silvercreek Realty Group, Equity Real Estate, NextHome, Realty Managers, The beach, Side, Engel & Volkers Americas again Engel & Volkers GMBH.
In an emailed statement, Darryl Frost, a spokesperson for Keller Williams, wrote that the company is pleased to have reached a resolution in this case.
Keller Williams has always been focused on creating an environment where entrepreneurs can thrive,” Frost wrote. “As we move forward with this settled case, all of us at Keller Williams are focused on what we do best: empowering our entrepreneurs to continue to deliver exceptional value in this rapidly evolving market.”
The settlement still has to be approved by the court and may face objections and appeals.
Keller Williams previously settled a real estate broker’s commission lawsuit with Sitzer/Burnett plaintiffs in February 2024 for $70 million.
