Batton plaintiff appeals NAR settlement approval

James Mullis, a plaintiff in the Batton homebuyer commission lawsuit, is joining the growing list of parties that have appealed the final approval of the settlement agreements reached by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and HomeServices of America. Mullis filed his appeal on Dec. 24 in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prior to filing the appeal, Mullis had filed an objection to the settlement before its approval. His objection pertained to the settlement class members who also bought homes listed on an MLS in which the seller paid the buyer broker’s commission. He claimed that the settlement, as it stood, allowed room for the settling defendants to claim that the agreement also covers the homebuyer plaintiffs, such as those in the Batton suit.

“The buyer and seller cases have been litigated as separate suits on behalf of separate classes of victims in separate courts asserting separate sets of claims,” the filing states. “Sellers never sought to consolidate, coordinate, or intervene in the buyer cases and never engaged buyer plaintiffs in the discussions that resulted in the current settlements.”

Due to what Mullis believes is vagueness in the settlement, he asked the court to clarify the language to ensure that the settlements cannot be purported to also release the Batton and Lutz homebuyer claims.

Earlier in 2024, Mullis and the other Batton suit plaintiffs unsuccessfully attempted to block the final approval of the RE/MAX, Anywhere and Keller Williams settlements.

Mullis’s appeal joins those already filed by Hao Zhe Wang; Rosalie Doyle, Jessica Winters, and John Guerra; University of Buffalo law professor Tanya Monestier; the Burton suit plaintiffs; Robert Friedman; Monty March; and the Spring Way Center.