The independent, Ohio-based brokerage will pay $895,000 to settle a lawsuit known as Keel after its lead plaintiff, bringing the total settlement fund for plaintiffs in the case to $11.5 million.
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Independent real estate brokerage Sibcy Cline is now a defendant in a relatively new commission lawsuit but has already reached a deal with the homeseller plaintiffs.
On Feb. 6, the plaintiffs in a case known as Keel after its lead plaintiff amended their complaint to add Sibcy Cline as a defendant, in addition to the firms named in the original Jan. 27 complaint: Side, Washington Fine Properties, Seven Gables Real Estate, First Team Real Estate — Orange County and Signature Properties of Huntington, among others.
The lawsuit against the latter defendants and a motion for preliminary approval of proposed settlements with the firms were filed the same day. That motion was granted on Feb. 4. The next day, the plaintiffs reached a deal with Sibcy Cline for $895,000, bringing the total Keel settlement fund amount to $11,465,000.
Sibcy Cline has more than 1,000 agents total in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement on Feb. 7.
“The Sibcy Cline Settlement is materially the same as all other settlements in this case that the Court approved,” the filing reads.
“As with the prior settlements, this Settlement was reached after an investigation of the Defendant’s financial condition and ability to pay a judgment or settlement. The Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, and beneficial to the Settlement Classes.”
The proposed settlement covers the same settlement class as the other deals: “All persons who sold a home that was listed on a multiple listing service anywhere in the United States where a commission was paid to any brokerage in connection with the sale of the home in the following date range: October 31, 2019, to date of Class Notice.”
According to the filing, the non-monetary terms of the deal “are the same in all material respects … including substantially similar Practice Changes, Cooperation, and Release provisions” as other commission-related settlements the same Missouri court has preliminarily approved in cases known as Gibson and Sitzer | Burnett.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri has scheduled a final approval hearing for the settlements in the Keel case for June 24 at 2:30 p.m. Central before Judge Stephen R. Bough.
Inman has reached out to Robin, Sheakley, Sibcy Cline’s president and CEO, for comment and will update this story if and when a response is received.
Fellow Keel defendant Michele Harrington, CEO of First Team Real Estate, told Inman when the suit was initially filed that “it’s bullshit we were ever put into this situation” and, in an interview last week with Inman, added that she was “freaking pissed” that the National Association of Realtors excluded brokerages like hers from its own nationwide settlement and did not rule out litigation against the trade group.
In order to secure its deal, NAR left brokerages with a sales volume of more than $2 billion in 2022 out in the cold. In December, Phillip Cantrell, founder of Benchmark Realty, told Inman that means NAR has a lot to make up for this year.
“The NAR settlement abandoned the largest 92+/- brokers in the country, who ended up paying millions from their own P&Ls, effectively turning these brokerages into simmering enemies,” he said.
Read the settlement filing (re-load page if document is not visible):
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