Side, Other Brokerages Settle New Copycat Commission Lawsuit

The real estate industry is facing yet another copycat commission lawsuit. But unlike previous cases, this one appears to have simply been a vessel to facilitate nationwide settlement agreements. 

Filed on Monday in Missouri, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff is Jeremy Keel, but other named plaintiffs include some well-known names in the real estate space, including Rhonda Burnett, Don Gibson, Daniel Umpa and Christopher Moehrl.

The lawsuit contains the same allegations as other commission lawsuits, accusing the real estate brokerage and MLS defendants of colluding to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions.

But while these other lawsuits were litigated for months if not years, Keel’s suit was settled on the same day it was filed. The total settlement amount adds up to a collective $10.57 million, with Side making the largest contribution at $5.5 million. 

The other defendants include Washington Fine Properties (settled for $1.3 million); Seven Gables Real Estate ($1 million); First Team Real Estate  — Orange County ($1 million); Signature Properties of Huntington ($850,000); Cairn Real Estate Holdings, the parent company of J.P. Piccinini Real Estate Services, aka JPAR ($700,000); Central New York Information Service ($125,000); and Brooklyn New York MLS ($95,000). 

The defendants have also agreed to make the same business practice changes as those outlined in the brokerage settlements in the Gibson/Umpa and Sitzer/Burnett suits.

While this case was filed in the same federal court district as the Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson/Umpa suits, it is not being overseen by Judge Stephen R. Bough but by Judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr.

Prior to the Keel suit, Side was notably one of the few major brokerages left that had not settled the commission lawsuits. In September 2024, the white-label brokerage filed a motion to dismiss the QJ Team copycat suit in Texas.