Home Sellers Win $730 Million Settlement in Real Estate Commission Lawsuit: Are You One of Them?

Class Action Against National Association of Realtors and Major Brokerages Alleges Inflated Commissions

Lawsuit Details and Settlement Information

A group of home sellers, led by plaintiffs Joshua Sitzer, Amy Winger, and others, filed a class action lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and several major real estate brokerages. The lawsuit, known as Gibson et al. v. National Association of Realtors et al., alleges that these entities created and enforced rules that required home sellers to pay inflated commissions to buyer’s agents. As a result of this litigation, multiple defendants have agreed to settlements totaling over $730 million. If you sold a home recently, you may be eligible to receive a portion of this settlement.

Understanding the Core Issue: "Inflated Commissions to Buyer's Agents"

The lawsuit’s central allegation revolves around the practice of requiring home sellers to pay potentially inflated commissions to buyer’s agents. Here’s what this means:

Traditionally, when a home is sold, the seller pays a commission that is split between their own agent and the buyer’s agent.
The lawsuit claims that NAR and major brokerages enforced rules requiring sellers to offer a set commission to buyer’s agents if they wanted to list on Multiple Listing Services (MLS).
These rules allegedly prevented sellers from negotiating lower commissions for buyer’s agents or offering no commission at all.
This practice supposedly resulted in artificially high commission rates, as there was little incentive for these rates to decrease through market competition.
Consequently, home sellers may have paid more in total commissions than they would have in a more competitive market.
The lawsuit also suggests this system might incentivize buyer’s agents to steer clients towards properties offering higher commissions, rather than focusing solely on the buyers’ best interests.

You may be eligible for a settlement payment if you:

Sold a home within the eligible date range (varies by state, generally between 2017 and 2024)
Listed the home on a multiple listing service (MLS) in the United States
Paid a commission to a real estate brokerage for the sale

How to File a Claim

To receive a benefit from the settlement, you need to submit a claim form. Here’s how:

Visit www.realestatecommissionlitigation.com/gibson
Fill out the claim form with information about your home sale and commissions paid
Submit the form before May 9, 2025

Note: If you’ve already submitted a claim for a prior settlement in this case, you don’t need to submit another one.