The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company joins push for Judge Bough recusal

Judge Stephen Bough—the federal court judge who is overseeing the Burnett and Gibson lawsuits—has been called to recuse himself from the Gibson case by Hanna Holdings. 

In a Thurs. March 27, 2025 filling, Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company—parent company of HomeServices of America—joined the motion for recusal. 

The crux of the recusal request is that Bough’s wife, Kansas City Councilmember Andrea Bough, accepted a political campaign donation from Matthew Dameron, former lead class counsel in the Burnett case. Bough had offered to recuse himself if Burnett plaintiffs and defendants felt it was necessary, though both sides declined.

According to Hanna Holdings’ original filing, Dameron withdrew his appearance in Burnett and Gibson shortly before a conference regarding settlements and attorney fees last month. Hanna Holdings argued in a court filing that the Gibson defendants were not offered the same information and offer for recusal that had previously been extended in the Burnett case.

“Rather than offer the parties in Gibson the same opportunity, the Court appointed the very attorney who admittedly created the basis for disqualification in Burnett to be class counsel in Gibson—just five days after recognizing the potential for apparent impropriety caused by the donation in Burnett and without ever informing the parties in Gibson of the issue,” the filing said.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s filing reads that it “expressly adopts and incorporates by reference the arguments made in Hanna Holdings’ suggestions in support of its motion for recusal.” 

MLS PIN plaintiffs defend settlement against Department of Justice 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has pushed back on MLS PIN’s proposed settlement in a commission lawsuit, arguing the deal and since-implemented rule changes—allowing sellers to offer no buyer compensation since July 2024—do not go far enough. 

MLS PIN has countered that the DOJ is not officially opposing the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) settlement—despite filing a letter of interest in the case—and the DOJ has failed to specify what settlement terms they would find acceptable over the past 17 months. 

“If the (DOJ) believes that the residential real estate market should be restructured on behalf of buyers, as well as sellers, it remains free to file such a case. The department’s inaction on buyer-broker conduct is no reason to derail a settlement on behalf of sellers that does not, and likely could not, encompass such conduct,” said the plaintiffs in a filing. 

MLS PIN expanded their settlement fund from $3 million to $3.95 million to match the NAR settlement, and expanded the scope of the settlement to include all MLS PIN sellers—not only residential sellers.

The case, overseen by Judge Patti Saris, is set for a preliminary settlement approval hearing tomorrow, April 1.

Judge blocks HUD and DOGE from canceling fair housing grants 

On Tues., March 25, Judge Richard G. Stearns in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a temporary order—currently set to remain in effect for 14 days—blocking HUD from canceling Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grants.

In February, HUD and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attempted to cancel funding to 78 FHIP grants issued across 33 states. A lawsuit brought by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) argued that canceling the grants was unlawful as the funds for the grants had been authorized by congressional appropriations. HUD is blocked from attempting to reinstate the order under a different name.

NFHA President and CEO Lisa Rice praised the decision: “We are grateful for today’s decision granting a temporary restraining order, halting the wrongful and unlawful termination of FHIP grants to fight housing discrimination.”

Gibson and Keel plaintiffs refile motion for attorneys’ fees and costs

The plaintiff class in the Gibson and Keel commission cases have filed an updated motion for attorneys’ fees and costs, with updated compensation recommendations in light of settlements reached since the previous filing. 

“Plaintiffs have achieved proposed nationwide settlements now totaling at least $1.0377 billion in monetary relief, in addition to significant practice change relief,” the filing states. 

“Through this motion, plaintiffs seek as attorneys’ fees one-third of the $11.465 million recovered under the settlements in Keel and the $8.625 million recovered under the settlements in Gibson, plus and recovery of certain case expenses,” the filing said. The filing described the requested amount of attorneys’ fees as "reasonable under the facts and circumstances.”

The overall additional expenses to the class counsel is reported as being $17,198,877.73, but $16,528,352.83 of this total figure has already been awarded through prior settlements. Thus, for this settlement, the plaintiffs are requesting a reimbursement of additional expenses in the amount of $670,524.90.

“The largest components of these costs is for experts, ESI document search and productions costs, mediations, and online research,” the filing explained. 

“Class counsel worked for more than six years to file and prosecute multiple lawsuits pending in different jurisdictions: Moehrl, Burnett, Umpa, Gibson, and Keel (“the litigation”). Class Counsel faced substantial risk representing the Settlement Class. They worked on a fully contingent basis, investing over 117,000 hours of labor through Feb. 28, 2025 and advancing over $17 million in out-of-pocket costs without any guarantee of success. They did so despite this litigation having no pre-ordained path to a recovery,” the filing said in summation of the class counsels’ efforts in these cases.

The final approval motion for the latest settlements in the cases is scheduled for June 24, 2025. 

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