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After months of legal wrangling, a judge on Friday granted preliminary approval to antitrust commission settlements from eXp World Holdings and Weichert of North America.
The approval came via a 14-page ruling from Judge Mark Cohen, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Cohen wrote in the ruling that the “proposed settlement agreements satisfy the criteria for preliminary approval” and that they appear to be “the product of intensive, thorough, serious, informed, and non-collusive negotiations.”
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A final approval hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28. News of the preliminary approval was first reported by Real Estate News.
Preliminary approval of the eXp and Weirchert settlements is significant because, more so than other antitrust commission deals, these two companies’ proposals were engulfed in controversy from the beginning. EXp first announced a settlement last October, agreeing to pay $34 million. Weichert settled a month later.
Both companies settled in a case known as Hooper, which was filed in Georgia.
However, not long after eXp announced its settlement, homesellers in Missouri who were behind a different case known as Gibson pushed back. They argued that eXp, and later Weichert, used a tactic known as a “reverse auction,” which is essentially shopping around among similar class action lawsuits for the one that will yield the best deal. The Missouri homesellers wanted to force the two companies back to the negotiating table and to have the case transferred out of Georgia and into Missouri.
EXp and Weichert objected to the homesellers’ characterization of the settlements and opposed attempts to transfer the case.
Legal wrangling over the two companies’ alleged “sweetheart deals” continued for months, and in March the Georgia judge refused to transfer the case to Missouri.
In Friday’s ruling, Cohen also determined that he had jurisdiction over the case.
In addition to eXp and Weichert, Cohen also granted preliminary approval on Friday to settlements involving Mark Spain Real Estate Atlanta Communities Real Estate.
Read the full order granting preliminary approval here:
