All
of
the
filing
defendants
denied
the
Gibson
plaintiffs’
allegations
and
posed
defenses
against
the
claims. 

Filed
mere
hours
after
a

Missouri
jury
found
real
estate
industry
players
liable
for
colluding
to
artificially
inflate
real
estate
agent
commissions,
the
Gibson
suit
largely
mirrors
the
claims
made
in
the
original
commission
lawsuits,
including

Sitzer/Burnett
and

Moehrl.

But

the
scope
of
the
suit
is
much
larger
as
it
seeks
class-action
status
for
“all
persons
who
listed
properties
on
a
Multiple
Listing
Service
in
the
United
States
using
a
listing
agent
or
broker
affiliated
with”
one
of
the
brokerage
defendants
and
paid
a
buyer
broker
commission
between
Oct.
31,
2019,
and
the
present. 

In
its
filing,
BHE
—
a
subsidiary
of
Warren
Buffett’s
Berkshire
Hathaway
—
denied
any
liability
and
the
plaintiffs’
allegations
that
it
violated
federal
antitrust
laws.

“BHE
denies
that
it
engages
in
or
engaged
in
any
anticompetitive
conduct
or
any
conduct
that
has
or
had
anticompetitive
effects,
including,
but
not
limited
to,
implementing
or
adhering
to
any
agreement,
combination,
or
conspiracy
that
is
anticompetitive,”
its
filing
stated.

The
filings
made
by
the
other
defendants
contained
similar
denials
of
wrongdoing,
but
things
differed
slightly
in
the
various
defenses
they
offered. 

Most
of
the
filings
claimed
that
the
plaintiffs
lacked
the
right
to
sue,
that
the
class
members
are
required
to

arbitrate
their
claims
based
on
the
individual
contracts
they
signed,
and
that
the
plaintiffs
did
not
sustain
any
damage
caused
by
the
defendants.
Additionally,
they
say
that
the
claims
are
barred
by
the
statute
of
limitations,
that
the
plaintiffs
agreed
to
the
defendants’
alleged
conduct,
and
that
the
conduct
at
issue
in
the
suit
is
“pro-competitive.” 

Hanna
Holdings
and
Crye-Leike
also
claimed
that
the

National
Association
of
Realtors’
(NAR)

commission
lawsuit
settlement
agreement
bars
the
plaintiffs’
claims.
Crye-Leike
argues
that
it
is
a
“released
party”
under
the
settlement,
and
Hanna
Holdings
argues
that
the
Gibson
plaintiffs’
claims
were
released
as
part
of
that
settlement. 

Hanna
Holdings
has
previously
been

dismissed
from
another
commission
lawsuit
in
Pennsylvania.