The taste of victory didn’t last long RE/MAX, Keller Williams and anywhere. Three national brokerages had less luck seeking dismissal of the complaint after the Baton 1 home purchase fee case was successfully put on hold in October as a result of the defendant’s final approval of the home sales fee case settlement. Ta.
In early October, Chicago-based U.S. District Judge Lashonda Hunt (who is overseeing the two Baton cases after Judge Andrea Wood resigned in early September) issued a personal jurisdiction ruling on an advisory basis. Defendants’ motion to dismiss on the ground of deficiency was granted. But at a hearing on Friday, she denied the allegations.
According to the Hunt decision, “Based on long-standing precedent, due process requires that the defendant have sufficient “minimum contact with the State of Illinois to the extent that maintaining the case does not violate traditional notions of fair play and substantive justice.” ”, it allows the exercise of personal jurisdiction. ”, and personal jurisdiction applies “if the defendant has “continuing and systematic general business contacts” in the forum, or in certain cases, “(1) if the defendant has (2) the alleged injury arose from the defendant’s forum-related activities; It is something.”
Hunt said the three defendants filed an initial motion to dismiss the lawsuit in April 2021. Home American Services The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2024, but a motion to dismiss based on personal jurisdiction was filed. Additionally, the judge noted that other defendants chose this strategy only after HomeServices was rejected.
“Despite being advised at least at this time that the HomeServices Defendants asserted a defense, the Relocating Defendants did not seek to add a personal jurisdiction defense, join the HomeServices Defendants’ claims, or otherwise At no time did he attempt to amend his motion to dismiss in order to assert or maintain a defense in September 2022,” Hunt wrote.
Because the three defendants did not include this argument in their initial motions to dismiss, Mr. Hunt believed the court did not need to “consider whether the plaintiffs have fulfilled their obligation to establish personal jurisdiction over the relocated defendants.”
Defendants filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in April 2024. The broker argued that the plaintiffs and the court lacked personal jurisdiction because the companies were not headquartered or incorporated in Illinois. It also pointed out that none of the plaintiffs had purchased a home in Illinois.
of National Association of Realtors (NAR) is the final defendant in the Baton 1 lawsuit filed in January 2021.
In the Baton 2 lawsuit filed in November 2023plaintiffs moved to file an amended complaint. They are considering adding 25 new class members and removing four state law claims from the lawsuit. The three plaintiffs argue that removing the state law claims is not a “waste” and that the new plaintiffs “bring the same claims that the plaintiffs have already filed and that this court has upheld.”
Additionally, they noted that the introduction of a new plaintiff “will not cause undue prejudice or delay because defendants have not yet filed discovery requests and the court has not yet entered a discovery schedule.” I am doing it.
Defendants in the Baton 2 lawsuit include: Compass, eXp World Holdings, Redfin, Weichert Realtors and united real estate. howard hannah and Douglas Elliman They were named as defendants when the lawsuit was first filed, but it was later dismissed.
The remaining Baton 2 defendants each have pending motions to dismiss filed on the advice of Mr. Hunt.