The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has withdrawn its objection to the settlement between plaintiffs and MLS Property Information Network (PIN) in the homeseller commission lawsuit known as Nosalek, according to a response the DOJ filed in the case on Tuesday.
The move by the government agency follows homeseller plaintiffs and defendant MLS PIN submitting a fourth amended settlement agreement last week, which stipulates that offers of cooperative compensation will be prohibited on MLS PIN’s platform (something other MLSs did in the settlement of commission lawsuit case Sitzer | Burnett) and raises the proposed settlement fund from $3 million to $3.95 million, the same amount it would have cost MLS PIN to join NAR’s settlement in Sitzer | Burnett.
The DOJ’s response specified that it was not taking any position on whether or not the proposed settlement was “fair, reasonable, and adequate” so that the court could approve it without influence from the agency. The DOJ also reiterated that it believes “blanket, upfront offers” of buyer broker compensation from homesellers or their agents are anticompetitive in practice and lead to inflated home prices.
Furthermore, even though the parties reached a proposed settlement, it does not mean that they are shielded from “future enforcement actions” by the government, the filing stated. And, if MLS PIN indeed follows the terms of the settlement, that action in itself would not be a defense, should the government decide to take legal action against the MLS in the future.
“Because the proposed settlement was reached between private litigants in a private class action suit, such settlement does not preclude any future enforcement actions by the United States,” the DOJ’s response said. “Nor would compliance with the proposed settlement or new MLS PIN rules implementing that settlement afford a defense to any such enforcement actions.”
If such a warning by the DOJ is true in the Nosalek case, it may also apply to settlements arranged with parties involved in other commission lawsuit cases with approved settlements — which should keep major industry players on their toes.
A preliminary settlement approval hearing is scheduled for June 10 in Massachusetts federal court.
Other defendants in the Nosalek case, including HomeServices of America, Keller Williams, Anywhere and RE/MAX, have all now been granted final approval of their settlements.
