Lawyers ask for $37M from commission case settlement

Plaintiffs are looking to secure a big settlement from residential brokerages for alleged antitrust violations regarding sales commissions, and their counsel stand to get paid in a big way, too.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the commission lawsuit known as Gibson are seeking a third of the proposed settlement amount, according to a filing reported by HousingWire. The proposed settlement is for $110.6 million and the lawyers want $36.8 million from that pot.

The request only pertains to the Gibson case, which was previously combined with Umpa. The lawyers involved — including Michael Ketchmark, who the outspoken plaintiffs’ attorney for the Sitzer/Burnett case — say they’ve spent more than 105,000 hours and $13 million since the commission lawsuits were first filed five years ago.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys also want $13.1 million in expenses for their work in all of the settlements so far; $12.9 million has already been awarded by the judge stemming from Sitzer/Burnett.

Ketchmark filed Gibson immediately after the jury issued a verdict in Sitzer/Burnett, while Umpa came along two months later; the cases were merged a few months ago without opposition. 

The plaintiffs in Gibson allege that the National Association of Realtors and top brokerages and franchises conspired to “impose, implement, follow and enforce anti-competitive restraints that cause home sellers to pay inflated commissions on the sale of their homes.” 

The proposed settlements in Gibson involve nine of the biggest real estate brokerages in the country. Defendants who have settled include Compass, Douglas Elliman and Redfin.

Gibson is only the tip of the iceberg for the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the prominent commission lawsuits and the copycat cases that have proliferated across the country. Across the commission lawsuits, plaintiffs’ attorneys are seeking a third of the settlement pool, or roughly $329 million before expenses.

While the numbers are eye-popping, they aren’t unattainable. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of attorneys’ fees between 25 percent and 36 percent of a total settlement amount in class-action cases.

The Gibson settlement is up for approval on Halloween, exactly one year after the historic Sitzer/Burnett verdict.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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