Howard Hanna agrees to settle commissions lawsuit
The Gibson case continues, however, with Crye-Leike and a Warren Buffet-owned company still pushing back, and other settlements facing challenges.
One of the last brokerages still fighting in the Gibson commissions case has hung up its gloves and reached a deal.
The agreement reached by Howard Hanna, revealed in a May 2 filing, did not include financial terms.
There are now just two players who have yet to announce a settlement: Crye-Leike and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the Warren Buffett-owned parent of HomeServices of America. Two other Gibson defendants — Weichert and eXp — reached settlements in a separate case, but those deals are facing challenges.
How we got here: Hanna, the nation's largest family-owned brokerage, and other defendants have repeatedly pushed back in the case, most recently trying to get Judge Stephen Bough (also the judge in the industry-shaking Sitzer/Burnett commissions lawsuit) to recuse himself over alleged conflicts of interest.
The bigger picture: Nine other brokerages named in the Gibson suit, including Compass, Redfin and Real, already received final approval on their deals last fall, paying out more than $110 million in damages.
In February, Judge Bough gave preliminary approval to settlements reached by several smaller brokerages in the Gibson case — The Keyes Company, NextHome, John L. Scott Real Estate, The K Company Realty, Real Estate One and Baird & Warner — which will begin sending out class notices ahead of a final settlement hearing in June.
EXIT Realty reached a deal in April and William Raveis settled in March.