Leaders at EXp Realty and Weichert can breathe easier today, now that a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Georgia has approved the brokerages’ Hooper buyer-broker commission settlement terms.
EXp will contribute $34 million, and Weichert will contribute $8.5 million to a commission fund, which includes judgments from other cases totaling over $1 billion. Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage will pay $800,000, and Mark Spain Real Estate will pay $750,000.
“This milestone represents a significant step forward in resolving these industry-wide legal challenges and providing certainty for our agents, their clients, and our shareholders,” a eXp Realty spokesperson told Real Estate News, which first reported the news on Wednesday. “As the Court noted, this agreement was reached through rigorous, arm’s-length negotiations and provides substantial value to the class while avoiding the risks and costs of protracted litigation.”
“eXp remains committed to transparency and the evolution of the real estate industry,” they added.
The settlement process has taken nearly two years, with eXp and Weichert submitting their offers in October 2024. However, homesellers in the Gibson buyer-broker commission lawsuit slammed the brokerages’ offers, calling them “sweetheart deals.”
The Gibson plaintiffs also accused eXp and Weichert of attempting a “reverse auction,” in which a defendant shops around among similar class action lawsuits to find the one that will yield the best deal. However, Judge Mark Cohen said the Gibson plaintiffs failed to prove that a reverse auction had taken place.
“The position of objectors’ counsel appears to be that when a defendant offers a certain amount to settle a case and has the offer rejected by a group of plaintiffs, a later agreement to enter into a settlement for a lesser amount with another group of plaintiffs constitutes some kind of reverse auction, even when the record reflects that the defendant did not reveal the content of the prior settlement discussion with the later plaintiff,” he wrote in a court filing.
Cohen declined to transfer the case from Georgia to Missouri and granted preliminary approval of the settlement in May 2025.
