In October 2023, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) was found liable by a federal jury of making home sellers pay excessive commission fees. Following a settlement between the NAR and the federal government, many new...more
Major changes hit the U.S. housing market this past month that may lead to lower housing prices across the nation. These changes stem from a settlement agreement entered into by the National Association of Realtors (“NAR”),...more
The real estate industry is experiencing a situation due to new rules relating to buyers’ brokers in residential real estate transactions. Earlier this year, facing a $1.8 Billion verdict, the National Association of Realtors...more
In 2019, home sellers brought a series of class-action lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and several national real estate brokerages, alleging that the defendants conspired in anticompetitive...more
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court’s dismissal of two claims brought by distributors against the medical-device manufacturer Zimmer Biomet. It also affirmed a jury verdict in favor of the...more
As summer begins to all but fade into the background, it is a good time to revisit legal compliance with state and federal requirements in the employment context. Massachusetts recently joined the growing wave of states to...more
This article discusses one of my guiding maxims: Be careful what you incentivize. Whether negotiating a contract, managing a business, or operating a rental property, people eventually turn toward their incentives and often...more
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on July 24 that Admera Health LLC, a New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical research and clinical laboratory testing company, agreed to pay $5,389,648 to resolve kickback allegations...more
Governor Jeff Landry recently signed into law Act No. 556, which updates the Louisiana Wage Payment Act (LWPA) to address commissions and plans for incentive payments and bonuses. The new law becomes effective on August 1,...more
The recent cyberattack that took down CDK Global’s software platform has left dealers scrambling to continue operations. While the immediate focus may have been the potential breach of customer data and the ability to...more
The New Jersey Appellate Division recently provided helpful guidance on the contours of sales commissions and, as defined under the Wage Payment Law (WPL), “supplementary incentives.” In a published decision issued June 24,...more
When litigating claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), litigants are aware of long-standing case law that essentially awards a prevailing plaintiff with their attorneys’ fees absent extraordinary...more
In the latest chapter of a long-running investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division into real estate industry practices, the D.C. Circuit revived DOJ’s 2021 investigation of the National...more
We previously wrote about the procuring-cause doctrine here. As a refresher, the procuring-cause doctrine provides that a salesperson or other agent who contracts for a commission becomes entitled to payment of the commission...more
On March 28, 2024, in Sutton v. Jordan’s Furniture, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld a Massachusetts Superior Court decision finding the furniture retailer’s commission-based compensation scheme...more
Suppose we compare how orchestra violinists are paid to how residential real estate agents are paid. In contrast to violinists, who must spend a fixed amount of time in rehearsals and concerts, real estate agents receive the...more
...A recent decision in an SEC enforcement action against Coinbase, the largest crypto-asset trading platform in the U.S., provides some long-awaited guidance on a topic that has been the subject of considerable debate in the...more
If you answered no, then you’d better have the records needed to prove the number of overtime hours worked by your employees and the rates paid for them. If you don’t have the records, then borrowing a rhyme from the legal...more
On January 31, 2024, in Mehra v. Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge held that a percent-of-profit incentive payment under a profit-sharing scheme is not a commission subject to the...more
Employers with Massachusetts-based employees know that the Massachusetts Wage Act (the “Wage Act”), with its strict liability and automatic treble damages and attorneys’ fees, is a powerful and exacting statute with which...more
Real estate brokerage franchisor Keller Williams has agreed to a settle claims related to the ongoing broker commission antitrust litigation. Burnett v. National Ass’n of Realtors, Case No. 4:19-CV-00332 (W.D. Mo.), which has...more
Now is the time to review overtime exemptions and pay plans for sales employees to be ready for 2024. The changing tech economy has created a class of sales employees who may not fit traditional overtime exemptions. Moreover,...more
A federal jury ruling just changed the game for real estate brokers and the commissions they are permitted to collect. In Sitzer v. the National Association of Realtors, the defendants (which included the National Association...more
Recently, a federal jury in Missouri returned a verdict ordering the National Association of Realtors (“NAR”), along with several other national real estate brokerages, to pay $1,785,310,872.00 in damages after finding NAR...more
Like violin pedagogy, real estate brokerage commissions for home sales have followed a set practice for decades, even though it might not be the best arrangement for all involved. Sellers listed their homes with a real estate...more