Dive Brief:
- State attorneys general and major landlords are sparring over proposed settlements of a 2023 class-action lawsuit over price-fixing allegations related to the latter’s use of RealPage’s rent-setting software.
- AGs from Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and Kentucky asked a federal judge to reject nearly $142 million in proposed settlements between renters and major property managers, arguing that the deals could undermine their ongoing legal actions, per an Oct. 24 filing in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee - Nashville Division.
- However, defendants pushed back in an Oct. 31 filing in the same court, saying the AGs are trying to “threaten resolution of this case so they can seek duplicative damages and attorneys’ fees for the private law firms that represent them on contingency.”
Dive Insight:
In early October, dozens of property management firms — including the country’s largest landlord, Greystar — agreed to resolve the class-action suit. Plaintiffs reached 26 class settlements worth more than $141.8 million combined, but the deal still requires a judge’s approval. The landlords deny any wrongdoing.
“The settlements do not include admission of wrongdoing and allow us to move forward and remain focused on serving our residents and clients,” a Greystar spokesperson said in an email to Multifamily Dive.
But in the follow-up filing, the four state AGs pointed out that they are pursuing separate enforcement actions against many of the same landlords that wish to settle — including Avenue5, Bell, BH Management, Bozzuto, First Communities Management and Greystar — and are similarly alleging that they conspired to inflate rents through Richardson, Texas-based RealPage’s software.
“These public enforcement actions, and the investigations leading up to their initiation, have been collectively underway for years, have advanced beyond the [multidistrict litigation] in material ways, and reflect substantial state investment and evidence development,” the AGs said.
Attorneys general are charged with protecting the public interest and with overseeing class-action settlements. That responsibility “compels the State AGs to prevent unjust and inadequate settlement agreements from receiving court approval,” they said in the filing.
However, the landlords pushed back in their response, saying the attorneys general’s arguments don’t have merit and would “derail nationwide settlements that would deliver over $140 million to renters across the United States and include groundbreaking injunctive terms.”
RealPage and other property managers are also still fighting an antitrust lawsuit filed in 2024 by the Department of Justice and several state attorneys general.
