“This settlement may resolve at least some, if not many, cases,” she added. “We cannot estimate the number of parties or claims that will remain after this or any other settlement is approved.”
Caldwell was one of six judges who contributed to the decision. Other judges on the panel included Matthew Kennelly, Roger Benitez, Madeline Cox-Arleo, David Norton, and Dale Kimball.
Although the judges rejected the consolidation motion, they did not rule out the possibility of future consolidation.
“Once the settlement process is concluded and it becomes clear how many claims and parties still remain and to what extent they overlap, formal centralization will be needed, or perhaps informal coordination efforts will be needed. “Procedures in progress that may adequately address overlapping pretrial litigation,” the filing states.
In late December 2023, the plaintiffs in the Gibson and Ampa lawsuits filed in Mississippi, along with Grace (filed in California), Burton (filed in South Carolina), and March (filed in South Carolina), asked the court: They asked if their case was similar. New York), Spring Way (filed in Pennsylvania), Phillips (filed in Georgia), QJ Team (filed in Texas), and Martin (filed in Texas) under the jurisdiction of Judge Stephen Baugh, who oversaw the Sitzer/Barnett case. May be integrated. Committee case trial.
The plaintiffs allege in their complaint that most of the defendants are duplicates, involve many of the same factual issues, and that the lawsuits are all in the “early stages” and all were filed in December 2016. , argued that the nine cases were ripe for consolidation and transfer. October 31, 2023 and he December 31, 2023.
In all nine cases, real estate industry stakeholders (i.e., NAR; RE/MAX, anywhere, keller williams, Home American Services, compass needle, Exp Realty, red fin, Douglas Elliman, howard hannah, united real estate, and Weichelt) colluded through NAR’s Participation Rules to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions.
However, since the consolidation complaint was filed with NAR, Keller Williams and Compass have reached a national settlement agreement, in addition to the settlement already reached by Anywhere and RE/MAX in 2023.