Filed
on
Monday
in
Missouri,
the
lawsuit’s
lead
plaintiff
is
Jeremy
Keel,
but
other
named
plaintiffs
include
some
well-known
names
in
the
real
estate
space,
including
Rhonda
Burnett,
Don
Gibson,
Daniel
Umpa
and
Christopher
Moehrl.

The
lawsuit
contains
the
same
allegations
as
other
commission
lawsuits,
accusing
the
real
estate
brokerage
and

MLS
defendants
of
colluding
to
artificially
inflate
real
estate
agent
commissions.

But
while
these
other
lawsuits
were
litigated
for
months
if
not
years,
Keel’s
suit
was
settled
on
the
same
day
it
was
filed.
The
total
settlement
amount
adds
up
to
a
collective
$10.57
million,
with


Side
making
the
largest
contribution
at
$5.5
million. 

The
other
defendants
include

Washington
Fine
Properties
(settled
for
$1.3
million);

Seven
Gables
Real
Estate
($1
million);

First
Team
Real
Estate 
—
Orange
County
($1
million);

Signature
Properties
of
Huntington
($850,000);

Cairn
Real
Estate
Holdings,
the
parent
company
of

J.P.
Piccinini
Real
Estate
Services,
aka

JPAR
($700,000);

Central
New
York
Information
Service
($125,000);
and

Brooklyn
New
York
MLS
($95,000). 

The
defendants
have
also
agreed
to
make
the
same
business
practice
changes
as
those
outlined
in
the
brokerage
settlements
in
the

Gibson/Umpa
and

Sitzer/Burnett
suits.

While
this
case
was
filed
in
the
same
federal
court
district
as
the
Sitzer/Burnett
and
Gibson/Umpa
suits,
it
is
not
being
overseen
by
Judge
Stephen
R.
Bough
but
by
Judge
Fernando
J.
Gaitan
Jr.

Prior
to
the
Keel
suit,
Side
was
notably
one
of
the
few
major
brokerages
left
that

had
not
settled
the
commission
lawsuits.

In
September
2024,
the
white-label
brokerage
filed
a
motion
to
dismiss
the

QJ
Team
copycat
suit
in
Texas.