Keller Williams has agreed to pay a combined $90 million to settle two antitrust class actions over how real estate commissions were set: $70 million for home sellers in the Burnett case and $20 million for homebuyers in the Batton case. The seller claim deadline of May 9, 2025, has passed. Homebuyers still have until August 25, 2026, to file. As of mid-2026, no money has been paid out in either case.
What the Lawsuits Claimed
Both cases challenged a National Association of Realtors rule that required any listing broker who wanted to place a home on a Multiple Listing Service to make a blanket offer of compensation to buyer-side brokers. Sellers argued in Burnett et al. v. National Association of Realtors et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, that the rule forced them to subsidize the buyer’s agent and kept commissions artificially high. The complaint cited evidence that Keller Williams buyer agents charged an average commission of 2.71% in 2015, nearly identical to 2.8% in 2002.
Homebuyers brought a parallel case, Batton et al. v. National Association of Realtors et al., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2021. They argued the same rule inflated the prices they paid, because buyer-agent commissions were baked into home sale prices.
Keller Williams did not admit wrongdoing in either settlement.
The $70 Million Seller Settlement
U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough granted final approval to the Keller Williams seller settlement on May 9, 2024, along with settlements from Anywhere Real Estate and RE/MAX.
The eligible class covers anyone in the United States who sold a home listed on an MLS and paid a commission to a real estate brokerage during the covered period. For Keller Williams specifically, the window ran from October 31, 2019, through February 1, 2024, on most MLSs. A handful of MLSs tied to the original Missouri litigation had earlier start dates reaching back to 2014.
The claim deadline was May 9, 2025. If you did not file by then, you cannot claim from the seller fund.
Why No One Has Been Paid Yet
The settlement cannot become final until the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals resolves objections filed by class members. Some objectors called the payout “pennies-on-the-dollar.” A separate challenge came from James Mullis, a plaintiff in the Batton buyer case, who argued the seller settlements improperly forced class members to release homebuyer claims that were never litigated in the seller case. The Eighth Circuit heard oral arguments on January 14, 2026, and a decision is expected in late summer or early fall of 2026.
Once the appeals clear, court-approved attorneys’ fees set at one-third of the fund, plus administrative costs, come out before any checks go to claimants. Individual amounts will be calculated pro rata based on the number of approved claims and the commissions each claimant paid. JND Legal Administration is the claims administrator, and no formal allocation plan has been posted.
The $20 Million Homebuyer Settlement
On February 2, 2026, Keller Williams became the first defendant to settle in the Batton buyer case, agreeing to pay $20 million. The company also agreed to cooperate against the remaining defendants by providing deposition testimony, trial testimony, and documents. A company spokesperson said the deal includes no new business practice changes beyond the payment.
Who Qualifies
Eligible buyers include anyone in the United States who purchased a home listed on an MLS on or before April 14, 2026, and who paid a commission to a real estate broker or agent. Covered time periods vary by state, with the earliest start date of January 25, 2006, in Puerto Rico.
The claim deadline is August 25, 2026.
No estimate of individual payouts has been provided. As with the seller fund, amounts will depend on the total number of approved claims and the commissions paid. The buyer settlement is still awaiting court approval and may face its own objections and appeals.
When You Might Actually See Money
Both settlements are stuck in the same bottleneck: appellate review. The trial court has approved the seller deal, but the Eighth Circuit’s ruling controls whether that approval stands. The buyer settlement has not yet been approved at all. Given the pace of appellate litigation, payments in either case could stretch into 2027.
The Commission Rules Have Already Changed
Separately from the money, NAR settled its own claims in March 2024 for $418 million and agreed to rule changes that took effect on August 17, 2024. These changes are already in force nationwide and are not affected by the pending appeals.
- Listing brokers can no longer publish offers of compensation to buyer agents on the MLS.
- Any agent working with a buyer must have a signed written buyer-broker agreement in place before touring a home. The agreement must state the agent’s compensation as a flat fee, percentage, or hourly rate, and cannot be open-ended.
- Agents must conspicuously disclose that commissions are negotiable and not set by law. Sellers must approve in writing before any compensation is offered to a buyer’s representative.
If you are buying or selling a home now, these are the rules you will encounter regardless of what the Eighth Circuit decides about the settlement money.