The commission lawsuits that reshaped how you get paid are not technically finished. Two objectors filed for rehearing in the first week of September, and several related cases are still on hold waiting for a final word from the courts. But for the business decisions you are making this week, the outcome already looks settled, and it is worth treating it that way.
On September 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed $110.6 million in brokerage settlements in the Gibson and Umpa cases, according to Inman's reporting on the ruling. The settling brokerages include Compass, Redfin, The Real Brokerage, Realty ONE Group, At World Properties, Douglas Elliman, Engel and Volkers, HomeSmart, and United Real Estate. That ruling came less than two weeks after the same court upheld the Sitzer and Burnett settlement involving the National Association of Realtors on August 19. Together, the money recovered across the commission litigation now totals roughly $1.018 billion, according to the appellate opinion.
What's Actually Still Open
Two settlement objectors, Robert Friedman and Monty March, asked the Eighth Circuit to reconsider its August 19 ruling, filing separate petitions on September 1 and September 2. Their argument is narrow. They are contesting whether claims tied to the Real Estate Board of New York should have been folded into the nationwide release, not whether the underlying practice changes should exist at all.
Several related cases, including Burton, Whaley, Hooper, Moehrl, Wang, and Grace, remain stayed while courts wait for the Burnett appeal to reach full finality. That is a procedural holding pattern, not a sign the settlements could unravel. Every one of the major brokerages named above has already agreed to the same practice changes that came out of the Burnett settlement, regardless of how the rehearing petitions land.
What This Means for Your Business
If you have been treating written buyer representation agreements and the end of automatic MLS compensation offers as a temporary compliance headache, something you are doing until the appeals finish and maybe things go back to normal, it is worth updating that assumption. They are not going back to normal. The brokerages listed above collectively represent a meaningful share of transactions in most markets, and they have all locked in the same rules, alongside NAR's own membership through the Burnett settlement.
That means the agents who are already comfortable walking a buyer through a written agreement before showing homes, and who can explain compensation clearly without stumbling through it, are building a real edge over the ones still hoping this resolves itself and quietly goes away. The rehearing petitions are worth watching if you like following case law. They will not change what you need to do on your next listing appointment or buyer consultation.
A referral network built for this environment helps here too. HouseJet connects agents with pre-qualified, ready-to-transact leads and pairs that flow with training on exactly these conversations, so newer practices become second nature faster instead of something you are winging deal by deal.
Key Takeaway
The commission litigation is not fully closed, but the practices it produced are no longer provisional. Build your scripts, your disclosures, and your onboarding around them as permanent fixtures, not placeholders. Agents who get comfortable with the new normal now will spend less time explaining it later and more time closing deals.
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