Justice Department Gets Green Light from Appeals Court to Reopen Realtors Case

On Friday, Apr 5, 2024, the federal appeal court said that The U.S. Department of Justice can revisit an investigation into the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This statement came after three years of the case settlement.?

In an appeal by the U.S. Court for the D.C. The Circuit wrote in a 2-1 decision said “The fact that the DOJ ‘closed its investigation’ does not guarantee that the investigation would stay closed forever,” The court mentioned that “The words ‘close’ and ‘reopen’ are unambiguously compatible.”

Back in November 2020, former President Donald Trump’s administration made a settlement with the group. This was done to end an antitrust investigation into its policies.

The settlement that was proposed in the court has several requirements from the real estate group. These requirements include around? 1.5 million agents. Additionally, the requirements include boosting the transparency of the agent's and brokers' commissions. They should also barre the claims that the estate buyers don’t pay for any services. The U.S. Department of Justice issued the statement that they are closing the probe in connection with two of the group’s other rules.

After eight months, President Joe Biden’s administration withdrew from the settlement, which hadn’t been finalized, and sought to continue the probe.

The real-estate group sued and mentioned in the statement that the closing letter prevented the Justice Department from restarting its investigation. The Judge in the lower court agreed to the same.?

Both the judges Florence Y. Pan and Karen LeCraft Henderson sided with the Justice Department. “Judge Justin Walker, who was appointed by Trump, dissented and said he would side with the real estate group. Pan is a Biden appointee. Henderson was nominated by former President George H.W. Bush.”?

“As articulated by Judge Walker in his dissenting opinion, the National Association of REALTORS? believes that the government should be held to the terms of its contracts,” the realtors’ group said in a statement. “We are reviewing today’s decision and evaluating next steps.”

The Justice Department said it was committed to “fighting to lower the cost of buying and selling a home.”

Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter in his statement mentioned that “ “Real estate commissions in the United States greatly exceed those in any other developed economy, and this decision restores the antitrust division’s ability to investigate potentially unlawful conduct by National Association of Realtors (NAR) that may be contributing to this problem”.

A Missouri jury in October found that the NAR and others liable for colluding to keep commissions high in a $1.8 billion. They also mentioned that the industry has come under increased scrutiny in recent years.

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