Douglas Elliman dismissed from Batton homebuyer commission suit

Douglas Elliman is joining Howard Hanna and HomeServices of America in being voluntarily dismissed from the Batton homebuyer commission lawsuits.

In their notice filed on Tuesday, the Batton plaintiffs stated that that their claims were dismissed without prejudice, noting that the ”dismissal is proper because Douglas Elliman Inc. has not yet served either an answer or a motion for summary judgment.”

There are two Batton suits, both filed by the same group of homebuyer plaintiffs.

The first Batton suit was filed in Illinois in January 2021 by Judah Leeder and later amended in July 2022 with Mya Batton as the lead plaintiff. The defendants in the suit include National Association of Realtors, Anywhere, Keller Williams, HomeServices of America and RE/MAX.

The second Batton suit was filed in November 2023, just days after the jury verdict in the Sitzer/Burnett suit was announced, and the defendants include Compass, eXp World Holdings, Redfin, Weichert Realtors, United Real Estate, Howard Hanna and Douglas Elliman.

Both Howard Hanna and HomeServices of America were voluntarily dismissed from their respective lawsuits earlier this year.

In April, Douglas Elliman joined eXp, Keller Williams, RE/MAX and Anywhere in filing a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, as well as a joint motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and a motion strike the complaint along with Compass, eXp, Redfin, Weichert, and United Real Estate.

Douglas Elliman has also recently settled the home seller commission lawsuits. The firm did not return a request for comment.