The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has agreed to a $418 million settlement, putting to rest claims in four Antitrust lawsuits that have been levied against the organization. This settlement resolves allegations of a scheme in play designed to inflate agent commissions through the imposition of illegal buyer broker fees. More can be found here.
The agreement came last week, offering relief to a nationwide group of home sellers. This class action suit was directed towards the NAR’s implementation of a new rule, most relevantly challenged in a 2019 case, Moehrl v. National Association of Realtors. The rule purportedly necessitated that a largely non-negotiable offer of compensation was to be made to a broker buyer whenever a property was listed on a “multiple listing service”, or MLS. Most of these services follow the regulations set by the NAR.
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In a statement to Law.com, Plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert A. Braun of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, said, “Probably the largest transaction that people will make is buying or selling a home, so for most Americans, being able to save a significant amount of money in connection with that transaction is really meaningful, and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to work on this.”