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Just days after a judge granted final approval to a slew of settlements in the Gibson commission lawsuit, four more companies have revealed that they, too, are settling the case.
The settlements involve NextHome, the Keyes Company, John L. Scott Real Estate Affiliates and The K Company Realty, the latter of which does business as “LoKation.” The deals were described in court documents filed Monday, with the documents saying the agreements are “substantially similar to those reached with the nine previous Gibson settling defendants.”
The comment is a reference to settlements involving Compass, Douglas Elliman, Redfin and other companies. Those settlements — which total $110 million — received preliminary approval in April, followed by final approval last week.
In the case of the four new settlements, the Keyes Company has agreed to pay $2.4 million. John L. Scott Real Estate will pay $1 million. LoKation will pay $925,000. And NextHome will pay $600,000. Together, the four settlement totals add up to just over $4.9 million.
News of the four new settlements was first reported by Real Estate News.
The four settlements received preliminary approval Tuesday.
The Gibson case was filed last October in Missouri, just minutes after the jury in the well-known Sitzer | Burnett case issued its verdict against the real estate defendants, including the National Association of Realtors. The Gibson case was thus the first of what would become many so-called copycat lawsuits that followed in the verdict’s wake. The suits generally raised antitrust claims, asserting that major real estate industry players conspired in ways that inflated consumer costs.
In April, Gibson was consolidated with another case known as Umpa.
In addition to outlining settlement sums, the new court documents mention that the four companies’ deals are similar to those reached by defendants such as Anywhere and Keller Williams in the Sitzer | Burnett case.
“The NextHome, Keyes, John L. Scott, and LoKation settlements were the result of lengthy arms-length negotiations, mediations, and consideration of the risk and cost of litigation,” the court documents further state. “As with the previous Gibson settlements, these settlements were reached after a detailed investigation of each Defendant’s financial condition and ability to pay a judgment or settlement.”
As was the case for previous deals, the four new settlements now have to receive final approval.
Read the court documents here (refresh the page if the documents do not appear):
Update: This story was updated after publication to reflect the fact that the four new settlements have received preliminary approval.
