Tuccori opt-in settlements win preliminary approval

Despite pushback and attempted intervention by the Batton and other homebuyer commission lawsuit plaintiffs, several opt-in settlements in the Tuccori homebuyer commission lawsuit gained preliminary approval earlier this week. 

On Tuesday, Chicago-based U.S. District Court Judge Lindsay Jenkins granted preliminary approval to several opt-in settlements totaling $106 million in the Tuccori homebuyer lawsuit.

The settlements that gained preliminary approval included those reached by the National Association of Realtors ($52.25 million), Compass ($7.33 million), eXp World Holdings ($4.34 million), Hanna Holdings ($8.25), HomeServices of America ($30 million) and Douglas Elliman ($2.04 million). 

In total, the settling parties in Tuccori have contributed more than $120 million into the Global Settlement Fund. 

These firms were not originally named as defendants in the Tuccori suit, but they were able to settle the homebuyer litigations they were named in — which included Batton 1 and 2, Cwynar, Davis and Lutz — through an opt-in feature in the Tuccori settlement.

Since the settlements were announced, the plaintiffs in other homebuyer commission lawsuits have sought to prevent the settlements from gaining approval. 

In the order, Jenkins wrote that the terms of the settlement, including the amount of each proposed opt-in agreement, are “fair, reasonable and adequate.” She ruled they were negotiated at arm’s length by experienced counsel acting in good faith, including through multiple mediation sessions overseen by a court-appointed special master for mediation.

The judge also wrote that the opt-in agreements were “reached as a result of those negotiations; there has been adequate opportunity for experienced counsel to evaluate the claims and risks at this stage of the litigation; and the Court will likely be able to approve the Opt-In Agreements.” 

Additionally, despite claims by the Batton plaintiffs that these opt-in settlements were the result of a “reverse auction,” the judge concluded that the “Opt-In Agreements compensate indirect purchaser claims at almost the same rate as the claims previously resolved by the [home seller] Burnett, Gibson, Keel and Hooper settlements.” 

A final approval hearing date for these settlements has yet to be announced.