Keller Williams agrees to pay $70 million to settle real estate agent commission lawsuits nationwide

By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the nation’s largest real estate brokerages has agreed to pay $70 million as part of a proposed settlement to resolve more than a dozen lawsuits across the country over agent commissions. The agreement was filed Thursday with federal courts overseeing lawsuits in Illinois and Missouri. It also calls on Keller Williams Realty Inc. to take several steps aimed at providing homebuyers and sellers with more transparency over the commissions paid to real estate agents. In October, a federal jury in Missouri found that Keller Williams and several other defendants conspired to require that home sellers pay a homebuyer’s agent commission in violation of federal antitrust law.