A regional commission-focused lawsuit filed by recent homebuyers appears on track to settle, potentially becoming the first such lawsuit to do so and setting precedent for the much larger national cases that target major brokerages and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).
The Illinois-based case known as Tuccori was filed back in December of 2023, and targeted only a single company—At World Properties, the parent company of @properties and Christie’s International Real Estate.
According to a joint status report filed in the Northern District of Illinois federal court yesterday, At World Properties and the plaintiffs have “reached an agreement as to a potential framework for a settlement that will allow them to continue settlement discussions and, if an agreement is finalized, to resolve this matter in its entirety.”
A spokesperson for At World Properties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While more than a dozen companies have resolved commission-focused antitrust lawsuits over the past several months, so far all have been filed by homesellers, and the settlement agreements they struck have only granted companies immunity from lawsuits filed by other sellers. It was unclear whether the settlement framework in this case would indemnify At World Properties and its affiliates from other buyer lawsuits.
The company previously settled seller suits, but has not been named in the larger, national cases filed by homebuyers, which continue to move forward despite defendants’ efforts to dodge the unique framework of those cases, which rely mostly on state laws rather than federal antitrust statutes.
The Tuccori case is unique in that it was initially filed in state court, but was subsequently moved to the federal court at the behest of At World Properties. It also seeks to certify a class going back further than the seller cases—everyone who bought a home on an NAR-affiliated MLS going back to 2000. Most seller cases have only included transactions taking place over the last five to eight years.
Other buyer cases are seeking to certify a class going back to 1996, when the Participation Rule requiring offers of buyer agent compensation was first enacted.
But plaintiffs in Tuccori make essentially all the same allegations as other commission cases—that At World Properties engaged in a conspiracy to create and enforce rules requiring mandatory buyer agent compensation, which allegedly inflated commissions.
Parties in Tuccori previously indicated they were looking for a resolution, asking for a pause in the case as they pursued mediation with a third party. In the latest filing, they requested that pause be continued, with another status report on the settlement negotiations due by October 5.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to RISMedia for updates.
