UPDATE: The Court granted Final Approval to the Settlement on August 13, 2025.

What is this lawsuit about?

The lawsuit alleges that Houlihan Lawrence breached fiduciary duties and engaged in deceptive and misleading business practices by acting as the agent for the buyers and sellers in the same residential real estate transaction without disclosing all material facts to the dual agency and obtaining both parties’ informed written consent. Plaintiffs allege that Houlihan Lawrence acted as an undisclosed, non-consensual dual agent in these residential real estate transactions as part of a strategy to increase its in-house sales that included offering undisclosed “in-house bonuses” to its real estate agents to incentivize dual agency sales, and that Houlihan Lawrence forfeited the commissions it collected on those transactions as a result. These claims apply to home sales that occurred in Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties between January 1, 2011 and July 14, 2018. 

Who is included?

The Settlement Class consists of all home buyers and sellers of residential real estate in Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess County, New York from January 1, 2011 and July 14, 2018 in which Houlihan Lawrence represented both buyer and seller in the same transaction, including those who entered into an arbitration agreement with Houlihan Lawrence.