At trial, a federal jury found that they violated antitrust law by conspiring to force home sellers to pay inflated commissions to real estate agents.

In the United States, most homes[1] are bought and sold using real estate agents affiliated with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), an industry lobbying group with over 1.5 million individual members.

[3][4][5] Industry research shows that Americans pay $100 billion in commissions to real estate agents each year.

This practice of encouraging guiding buyers toward homes with higher commission rates is known in real estate as steering.

Analysis by Schulman showed that the average buyer commission rate was 3% in 95% of the Missouri home sales that were studied.

[12] Rhonda Burnett, the lead plaintiff, testified about her experience with a real estate agent from HomeServices of America subsidiary ReeceNichols.

[12] Jerod Breit, the fourth plaintiff to testify, told the court that his real estate agent from RE/MAX promised him a 5.5% commission, but actually charged him the full 6%.

[14][15] The organizations and corporations found liable were: Jurors found that all the defendants in the case "knowingly and voluntarily" engaged in a conspiracy with the goal of "raising, inflating, or stabilizing broker commission rates paid by home sellers" by following and enforcing NAR's cooperative compensation rule.