A $120 million settlement just opened, and it is not what made your realtor’s commission negotiable
I mentioned yesterday something was landing today, and here it is. A $120,334,500 class-action settlement — Tuccori, et al. v. At World Properties, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — just started taking claims from anyone who bought a home listed on an MLS anywhere in the country and had a commission paid on that sale. I wrote the whole thing up here, but there’s one myth about it I want to clear up before you read anything else about it. The version going around online says this settlement is what made commissions negotiable and forced your agent to disclose the fee upfront. It didn’t. Those changes — a written buyer-agreement before you tour a home, a specific number for what your agent gets paid — came from an earlier case, Sitzer/Burnett, and took effect back on August 17, 2024. This new settlement just pays homebuyers for the old conduct; NAR’s own release says the terms “require continued compliance” with the 2024 changes, not new ones, and nobody has admitted wrongdoing. What’s real: if you bought through a broker, you may be owed money. Filing is free, all you need is your recorded deed, and the deadline is October 27. Go straight to HomebuyerSettlement.com — I already found this one being republished by claim-aggregator sites, and while I didn’t find either one charging a fee, you don’t need to find out either, because the free path is right there.
The FTC is sending $23.8 million to Grubhub drivers and diners — and if anyone asks you to “file a claim” for it, that’s the scam, not the refund
On August 12 the FTC said it’s sending 640,038 payments, about $23.8 million total, to Grubhub drivers and diners the agency and the Illinois AG say were harmed — drivers allegedly misled about what they’d actually earn, diners allegedly locked out of their accounts and blocked from redeeming gift cards. I wrote up the details here, but the sentence that actually matters is the FTC’s own: most of its cases don’t need a claim form, because the agency already has the company’s records and just sends the money. Most people get a check in the mail — cash it within 90 days. PayPal recipients get 30 days. Miss the window and it isn’t gone; call the refund administrator, Analytics Consulting, at 1-888-446-4992, and ask if money’s still in the fund. So here’s the rule this whole thing teaches: if you drove for or ordered from Grubhub and a check or PayPal deposit shows up, that’s real. If an email or text shows up first asking you to “verify your eligibility” or “file your claim,” that one’s not the FTC — that’s somebody trying to collect something from you instead of the other way around.
Things to check this week
Stellantis is recalling about 1.27 million Ram 1500 pickups, model years 2019 through 2026, because the rear seatbelt buckle anchors may not be properly attached — the kind of thing worth fixing before it matters, not after. Letters go out August 18, but you don’t have to wait for yours: check now at NHTSA.gov under campaign 26V495, or call 1-800-853-1403. The repair is free. Separately, if you bought a Tesla before December 16, 2016 with free lifetime Supercharging and you’re still a California resident, there’s a settlement over “idle fees” Tesla is accused of charging on top of that — up to $350 a person. Narrow group, I know, but if that’s you, file at TeslaIdleFeeClassAction.com before September 25. And a different kind of emergency I put a full guide up for this week, because I keep hearing about it: what to do if your property tax lien gets sold. Short version — under the Supreme Court’s Tyler v. Hennepin County ruling, nobody can keep more than what you actually owed in taxes, and most states give you a redemption window measured in months or years to pay it off and keep your home. A few states, California among them, cut that window off at the sale itself. Find out which one your state is before you assume you have time.
A number to file away, not to panic about
In the last seven days, federal courts took in at least 80 new suits naming Equifax, 31 naming Experian, and 23 naming Trans Union — busiest single day for all three was August 12. I say “at least” on purpose: these are federal filings only, a lot of this happens in state court too and nobody’s counting that, and the count itself moves as filings finish getting indexed, so treat it as a floor. What it means for you isn’t the number, it’s the reminder underneath it: getting an error fixed on your credit report is a right you can enforce, not a favor a bureau is doing you. If you’ve disputed something in writing and it’s still wrong, you’re not out of options.
The one to warn someone about
Pennsylvania’s attorney general just filed a complaint against N. Stanley Paving, Inc., a Lackawanna County contractor, alleging high-pressure sales tactics, price increases added after the contract was signed, abandoned jobs, and shoddy work. The detail that stopped me: the complaint describes a senior citizen who ended up paying $32,000 on a job quoted at $16,000, after terms got added without her consent. At least 14 people have filed complaints. Nothing here is proven yet — the AG is seeking restitution, penalties, and an injunction, and the contractor hasn’t had its day in court. But the pattern is the forward: get more than one written quote, never let anyone add a term to a contract you already signed, and if a “final price” doesn’t match the number you agreed to, stop before you pay it. If you know somebody about to hire a contractor for anything big, that’s who this is for.
Before you go
This is the fast daily sweep. If you want any one of these worked all the way through, one topic at a time, that’s the GOOD Weekday Briefing, and it’s free.
And if you know somebody who’s bought or sold a house in the last few years — forward them the settlement piece up top. Free money with a real deadline is exactly the kind of thing that gets missed.
— Steve