Jeff and Melissa Efron sued Compass in late June, alleging the brokerage charged them an “undisclosed flat-fee” of $475 at the closing of their 2024 Palm Beach County home purchase, despite being told their buyer’s agent would be paid entirely out of the seller’s commission. The suit, filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, sought class-action status on behalf of Florida buyers charged similar fees between June 2022 and June 2026, and accused Compass of violating both the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
On Aug. 11, six weeks after filing, the Efrons asked the court to voluntarily dismiss the case. No class had been certified. No ruling had been issued on the merits. Compass, through a spokesperson, said the company did not wish to comment on the dismissal. Neither the court filing nor any public reporting on it explains why the plaintiffs walked away from a case they had, just weeks earlier, seemed confident enough in to file.
That confidence wasn’t limited to the plaintiffs. In early July, real estate attorneys reacted to the Efron suit as a case with real legs. Doug Miller, an attorney at Miller Law PLLC who helped bring the landmark Moehrl commission lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors, told HousingWire he “can’t imagine how this wouldn’t have all the elements of a good class action lawsuit,” predicting it would be “a fairly easy case” and that a successful outcome could trigger copycat suits against other brokerages charging similar fees. Wendy Gilch, founder of consumer advocacy group Selling Later and a fellow at the Consumer Policy Center, framed the suit as part of a broader wave of scrutiny following the National Association of Realtors’ commission-lawsuit settlement, which took effect in mid-2024 and required buyers’ agents to disclose their compensation upfront for the first time in many states…