Gibson claims against Berkshire Hathaway Energy will proceed 

It looks like Berkshire Hathaway Energy's legal entanglement with home sellers over alleged inflated commissions will continue for the foreseeable future.

The U.S. District Court for Western Missouri ruled on Thursday that BHE is not exempt from further litigation in the commissions lawsuit known as Gibson simply because its subsidiary, HomeServices of America, previously settled in a related lawsuit.

The holding company owned by investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett was added to the Gibson suit via an amended complaint in March 2024, four months after the case was originally filed. 

The court denied BHE's motion for summary judgment on April 9, which clears the way for the case to go to trial.

'A single economic entity': In support of its motion, BHE had argued that the parent company and its subsidiary, HomeServices of America, were considered one legal entity. As such, according to a BHE filing, plaintiffs could not continue their legal action because HSoA had settled similar claims in Sitzer/Burnett for $250 million. 

BHE's lawyers argued that HSoA's "carveout" in Sitzer/Burnett "cannot undo binding Supreme Court precedent; it cannot make one single economic entity into two."

The holding company also claimed the plaintiffs themselves had said in previous filings that BHE effectively controlled HomeServices, supporting the argument that the two companies act as one entity.

What the court said: In the order denying BHE's motion, Judge Stephen R. Bough countered that a core part of determining the amount of HSoA's settlement was the fact that it would not encompass BHE — precisely because the parent company would be held to account through the Gibson case.

HomeServices had also previously argued in Sitzer/Burnett filings that the $250 million settlement was fair (and not too low) because "Berkshire Hathaway (and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, itself a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway) are separate and distinct legal entities that have no legal or contractual obligation to cover the liabilities of the HomeServices Defendants, including the Burnett judgement, or to fund a settlement. For that simple reason, the fairness of the Settlement must be judged against the resources of the HomeServices Defendants only — not those of their parent entities."

Real Estate News has reached out to Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company for comment.

Where the case stands: BHE is now one of the only remaining defendants in Gibson that has not yet settled. Nine brokerages — including Compass, Redfin and The Real Brokerage — received final approval for their settlements in Oct. 2024, followed by six more firms in June 2025. 

Hanna Holdings, William Raveis, EXIT Realty, Windermere and William L. Lyon & Associates (which now operates under Windermere) received final approval for their deals in early February 2026. eXp and Weichert were named in Gibson but settled in a related case, Hooper; those settlements received a final OK less than two weeks ago.

One other holdout is Crye-Leike Real Estate, which first argued that the case against it should be dismissed, and later suggested the firm should be covered under the terms of the NAR settlement. The judge denied both motions.