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US Real Estate Brokerages Must Face Home Sellers’ Class Action

By  |  March 30, 2023

On Wednesday federal judge ruled that home sellers accusing the National Association of Realtors and a group of real estate brokerages of conspiring to inflate commission rates can move forward as a class action.

US District Judge Andrea Wood’s decision grants class-action status to past home sellers seeking more than $13 billion in damages and creates a separate class of current and future sellers who want a court injunction that bars subsequent violations of U.S. antitrust law.

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The plaintiffs are seven home sellers. The judge’s order said membership in each class “can be expected to number in the thousands, at minimum.”

Designation as a class means the plaintiffs’ can pursue large-scale claims against the National Association of Realtors, RE/MAX LLC, Long & Foster Inc and other corporate defendants as opposed to filing individual claims for monetary damages.