Brokerages Look To Dismiss Cwynar Homebuyer Commission Lawsuit

Two brokerage defendants in the Cwynar homebuyer commission lawsuit are taking a different tack than many of their fellow defendants in how they’re dealing with the lawsuit. On Friday, The Agency and Realty ONE Group filed a motion to dismiss the Cwynar lawsuit’s first amended complaint. 

The motion comes after several other brokerages have settled homebuyer commission lawsuits. This includes Keller Williams, which settled the Batton lawsuit. Meanwhile, The Real Brokerage, @properties, Baird & Warner, Real Estate One, Silvercreek Realty Group, Equity Real Estate, NextHome, Realty Executives, Shorewest, Side, Engel & Volkers Americas and Engel & Volkers GMBH all settled the Cwynar lawsuit.

Filed in late June 2025, the Cwynar suit claims that policies the National Association of Realtors (NAR) had in place prior to its settlement business practice changes going into effect in August 2024 resulted in buyers paying inflated commissions.

In October 2025, the Cwynar suit was combined with six other lawsuits, including the Tuccori homebuyer suit, which was originally filed in late 2023 and named At World Properties as its only defendant. Two defendants in the combined lawsuit, Fathom and HomeSmart, are contesting the consolidation.

In their motion, The Agency and Realty ONE Group note that the Cwynar lawsuit was filed in response to the Sitzer/Burnett verdict, in which home sellers alleged that they overpaid for broker services due to a supposed conspiracy between NAR and national brokerage companies. 

The Agency and Realty ONE Group argue that based on the facts established in the Sitzer/Burnett suit, the homebuyers who filed the Cwynar suit were not the ones who directly paid for  buyer broker services. Due to this, they cannot claim that they overpaid for these services due to alleged antitrust issues.

The defendants added in the filing that since the plaintiffs are “an indirect purchaser of buyer-broker services, federal antitrust law prohibits Plaintiff from seeking damages.”

“Further, Plaintiff’s request for an injunction fails because home sellers, who are the direct purchasers of buyer-broker services, are better positioned to seek relief, which they have already done, obtaining settlements from defendants here that include restrictions on certain conduct going forward,” the filing states.

The filing also claims that the plaintiff lacks standing to assert these claims against the defendants “because he has not even attempted to show that his alleged injury is traceable to any specific conduct by any of the Defendants or that this lawsuit could redress his alleged harm.”

Additionally, the defendants argue that the plaintiff’s claims are time-barred as the alleged injury occurred nearly five years prior to when he filed the lawsuit, and that the plaintiff has failed to allege any agreement in restraint of trade. 

The Agency and Realty ONE Group have previously settled the home seller commission lawsuits.