Anyone who bought a home listed on a multiple listing service anywhere in the United States and paid a real-estate commission as part of the deal may be entitled to a payment from a $120 million antitrust settlement, but the notice attached to the case draws a hard line: people who only sold a home during the same years are excluded from this particular pot of money.
A $120 Million Fund Built From 24 Defendants
The settlement in Tuccori et al. v. At World Properties, LLC et al. is pending before Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuit alleges the defendants created rules that kept broker commissions artificially high and enforced them through an unlawful conspiracy, inflating home prices and reducing the quality of buyer-broker services nationwide. The defendants deny wrongdoing, and neither a court nor a jury has decided who is right.
To resolve the case, 24 real estate brokerages, franchisors and the National Association of Realtors agreed to fund a combined $120,334,500 global settlement, according to the settlement’s frequently asked questions page. The National Association of Realtors is the largest single contributor at $52,250,000, followed by HomeServices of America and its affiliated companies at $30,000,000, Anywhere Real Estate at $9,602,500, Hanna Holdings at $8,250,000, and Compass at $7,331,250, with the remaining defendants contributing smaller amounts down to $63,000.
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Why Sellers Are Left Out of This Particular Settlement
The notice answers the seller question directly: “Generally no,” a home seller does not qualify for this settlement based on having sold a home. Separate settlements already reached in other lawsuits, known by the case names Burnett, Gibson, Keel and Hooper, cover people who sold homes and paid a commission as part of that sale, even if the same person also bought a home during the relevant years. Someone who both bought and sold property during the class period may need to look at more than one settlement to capture what applies to them, since this fund and the seller settlements do not overlap and do not release the same legal claims.
Membership in this settlement class instead turns entirely on the purchase side of a transaction: anyone who bought a home listed on an MLS anywhere in the country, including regional listing services such as the Real Estate Board of New York or the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, where a commission was paid to any brokerage in connection with the purchase.
Class Periods Vary by State and by Which Company Sold the Home
The exact years a purchase must fall within depend on both the buyer’s state and which defendant’s affiliated brokerage was involved, ranging from a period beginning in January 2006 for some Puerto Rico purchases to a period beginning in December 2019 for other homes nationwide, with every period running through June 25, 2026. A buyer who is unsure which window applies to a particular purchase can check the settlement’s published class-period tables rather than relying on a single national cutoff date.
Beyond the cash payments, the defendants agreed to maintain or extend changes to how they do business, a category of relief the settlement agreements describe separately from the monetary fund, according to the same FAQ page. Those business-practice commitments echo requirements built into earlier, related settlements that reshaped how home-sale commissions are disclosed and negotiated nationwide, though the specific terms vary by defendant and are spelled out in each company’s individual settlement agreement rather than one uniform rule applied to all 24.
Two Deadlines Land Before the October Claim Cutoff
Home purchasers who want a payment must submit a claim form online or by mail no later than October 27, 2026. A separate and earlier deadline applies to anyone who wants to exclude themselves from the settlement or file a formal objection: both the opt-out request and any objection must be postmarked or filed with the court by September 17, 2026, roughly six weeks before the payment claim window closes and only days away from today. The court has scheduled a final fairness hearing for November 2, 2026, before Judge Jenkins at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, where it will decide whether to approve the settlement and the attorneys’ fees requested by class counsel.
Inside the guide
A 5-tab Excel tracker pre-filled with all 51 state unclaimed-property offices, the source vault of 12 official places money sits, and a step-by-step filing walkthrough.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a 36-page guide, a 5-tab Excel tracker pre-filled with all 51 state unclaimed-property offices and the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice.
Open The Settlement & Refund Recovery System.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Financial Wire editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
