MLS PIN, Nosalek settlement finally gains final approval

Over two years after the agreement was first announced, the settlement between MLS Property Information Network and the Nosalek commission lawsuit plaintiffs has received final approval. Judge Patti B. Saris, who has overseen the entire approval process for the settlement, granted final approval to the settlement after a hearing on Monday. Judge Saris of U.S. District Court in Boston granted preliminary approval to the fourth amended settlement agreement between the MLS defendant and the home seller plaintiffs in early June. This was not the first time Judge Saris has granted preliminary approval to a settlement between the two parties. She granted preliminary approval to their original agreement, which was announced in June 2023, in September 2023 only to have the Department of Justice (DOJ) file an amicus brief just weeks later stating that it had “significant concerns” about the settlement. Unlike other commission lawsuit settlement agreements — like the one negotiated by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the Sitzer/Burnett suit — MLS PIN’s original settlement did not ban offers of buyer broker compensation from the platform. In later filings in the Nosalek suit, the DOJ argued that it did not want upfront offers of buyer broker compensation displayed or shared anywhere. MLS PIN and the Nosalek plaintiffs have spent nearly two years going back and forth over the settlement. This all changed in May 2025 when the DOJ notified the court that it had  officially withdrawn its objections to the settlement. The DOJ changed its tune after MLS PIN agreed to remove upfront offers of buyer broker compensation from the site, bringing its settlement in line with NAR’s settlement. Additionally, MLS PIN has agreed to pay $3.95 million, the same amount it would have paid had it bought into NAR’s settlement. With the approval of MLS PIN’s settlement, all parties in the Nosalek suit have received final approval of their settlements. However, appeals are pending on the settlements reached by the brokerage defendants, including Anywhere, RE/MAX, Keller Williams and HomeServices of America.