The plaintiffs are trying to block Anywhere’s opt-in settlement in another commissions case known as Tuccori. The deal received preliminary approval in March.
The plaintiffs in a homebuyer commissions lawsuit who want to block Anywhere Real Estate from opting into a settlement for a different case are taking their arguments to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
This week in the case known as Batton, plaintiffs filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. They are contesting a district court’s order denying their February motion for a preliminary injunction, which they sought after the plaintiffs in a case known as Tuccori requested preliminary approval for an Anywhere opt-in settlement.
How we got here: The Batton and Tuccori cases are similar to better-known buyer agent commissions lawsuits like Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson. But in both Batton and Tuccori, it is homebuyers — not homesellers — who are seeking damages.
Anywhere joined two other firms — The Keyes Company and Illustrated Properties, and Vanguard Properties — in opting into the Tuccori settlement in February. The Real Brokerage also joined the settlement in January. Together, the four firms agreed to pay $10.8 million into the settlement fund.
The Batton plaintiffs asked the court to intervene, but their motion was denied in early March. In their challenge to that motion, attorneys for Anywhere argued that the opt-in settlement was first required to go through an approval process, which they said was the most appropriate for filing objections.
A judge granted preliminary approval of Anywhere’s settlement in Tuccori last month.
An active first quarter: Though the Batton case was first filed five years ago, activity has picked up in the first few months of 2026. Keller Williams became the first brokerage to settle in Batton in February, and REMAX followed with its own settlement deal a few weeks later.
The opt-in trend: Another brokerage attempting to opt into the Tuccori settlement: Hanna Holdings. Instead of settling with the plaintiffs in a Pennsylvania antitrust lawsuit known as Davis, Hanna Holdings is attempting to join Tuccori. As in Batton, plaintiffs in the Davis case have filed an injunction motion seeking to stop it from happening.
On April 3, Hanna Holdings filed a response to the injunction, posing arguments similar to those that Anywhere had made about the plaintiffs having the opportunity to object in the preliminary settlement approval process.
Attorneys for Hanna Holdings also noted that the company agreed to pay more than the Tuccori settlement’s opt-in formula — adding $8.25 million to the settlement fund — and would pay more on a relative basis than the Davis plaintiffs’ counsel have obtained in other settlements.
“It is nothing more than wishful thinking that these plaintiffs would have done better than the Tuccori plaintiffs. They would not have,” the filing said.