With a month until the final approval hearing is held for several settlement agreements in the Gibson commission lawsuit, objections to the settlements rolled in at the end of 2025.
The main objection comes from Batton homebuyer commission lawsuit plaintiff James Mullis, who is only objecting to the final approval of Hanna Holdings’, the parent company of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, settlement agreement.
According to the filing, Mullis believes that the release in the settlement does not cover “claims asserted by class members to recover damages in separate transactions when they purchased a home.” While Mullis notes that the settling parties have acknowledged that “homebuyer damages claims do not arise out of or relate to the factual predicate of the claims currently pending before this Court, and thus cannot be released,” the filing states that he is objecting ”in an abundance of caution because Hanna might later argue that the release language precludes the homebuyer claims.”
If the court clarifies that the settlement does not affect the homebuyer commission lawsuit claims, Mullis states that he has no objection to the settlement. However, if the release does cover homebuyers’ damages claims, then he argues that the court should reject the settlement “as inequitable and lack adequate representation.”
Mullis had previously made these claims regarding settlements in the Sitzer/Burnett and Moehrl suits, but his objections were overruled.
The second objection
The other objection was filed by a group of objectors including the Spring Way Center LLC, Nancy Wehrheim, John Moratis, Nancy Moratis, Danielle Kay, Jessie Kay, Kaitlyn Slavic and Maria Iannome. Most of these parties have filed objections regarding prior settlements in this and other commission lawsuits.
These objectors are objecting to the final approval of the settlements reached by William Raveis Real Estate, Inc.; Hanna Holdings; Exit Realty Corp. Int’l, Exit Realty Corp. USA; Windermere Real Estate Services Company Inc.; William L. Lyon & Associates, Inc.; Charles Rutenberg Realty, Inc.; My Home Group Real Estate, LLC; Tierra Antiqua Realty, LLC; and West USA Realty, Inc.
In the filing, they ask the court to deny the final approval of these settlements, arguing that they “greatly exceed the scope for which classes were certified and for which discovery was conducted,” that the settlement amount ($42 million) “is grossly disproportionate to the amount appropriate to adequately compensate the injured parties and neither the Court nor members of the class have had the opportunity to review records that would adequately allow them to determine ability to pay,” and that the proposed practice changes are “illusory,” noting that data show that for other brokerages and MLSs that have implemented these changes buyer-broker commissions have actually risen.
Additionally, the filing claims that the settlement notice, as well as the settlement itself have not provided “sufficient detail regarding how settlement amounts will be distributed by providing class members information necessary to determine what their payout will be.”
The final approval hearing for these settlements is scheduled for February 5.
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