According to Thursday’s court filing: National Association of Realtors The company announced it would appeal the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision. Department of Justice The company may resume its investigation into industry groups.
The decision to appeal to the Supreme Court came after the appeals court in July denied NAR’s request for rehearing.
The appeals court’s decision overturned a ruling by District Judge Timothy Kelly. January 2023 They argue that the settlement terms previously agreed to by the Department of Justice and NAR to end the Department’s investigation of the trade associations remain in effect, and that allowing the investigation to continue would result in the loss of the benefits NAR negotiated in its original settlement.
Department of Justice appealed the ruling Apply in March 2024, First Overview Early June.
The two sides reached an initial settlement in 2020, ending a Department of Justice investigation into NAR’s listing. Agent Remuneration PolicyThe proposed settlement at the time included a requirement that NAR be more transparent about broker fees and stop falsely representing that buyer broker services were free. In exchange for NAR complying, the Department of Justice announced it would drop its investigation.
But under new leadership in the Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew from the settlement in July 2021, saying the terms of the agreement prevented regulators from continuing to investigate certain association rules they believed harmed buyers and sellers.
NAR filed a petition in September 2021 to quash or modify the Department of Justice’s investigation into the trade group.
According to the filing, NAR plans to file a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court by Oct. 10, 2024. Additionally, the filing notes that the Department of Justice has agreed to “significantly narrow the documents it seeks” in response to the civil investigative demand.
In response, NAR will submit documents related to the Moir and Sitzer/Barnett Commission cases by September 30, 2024, and other documents related to the clear cooperation policy, including the participation rules at the heart of the Commission’s cases, by one month after the Supreme Court rules against NAR, or by November 12, 2024 if NAR does not file a writ of leave to appeal, the filing details.
In a filing in the Nosalek case in which the Justice Department was involved in late September 2023, the department made it clear that it does not support collaborative fees and does not want to see offers of buyer broker fees “anywhere.”
