The Masiello commission lawsuit’s defendant list just got a bit lighter. On Friday, the suit’s lead plaintiff Joseph Masiello filed a motion to dismiss several parties voluntarily, but without prejudice, meaning that he could refile his suit against them in the future.
The dismissed parties include the Arizona Association of Realtors, Phoenix Association of Realtors, Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors, West and Southeast Realtor of the Valley, Inc., Tucson Association of Realtors, Inc., Arizona Best Real Estate, North & Co., Silverleaf Realty, Retsy, The Brokery and Long Realty.
Masiello is dismissing these parties as they have either not served an answer or motion for summary judgment.
These are not the first parties to be dismissed from this suit. In December, both Realty ONE Group and HomeSmart were dismissed from the suit with prejudice after filing for dismissal earlier in the month. Both brokerage defendants were granted their dismissals after their commission lawsuit settlements in the Gibson suit were granted final approval in late October.
The Masiello copycat suit was filed in early January 2024. The suit takes aim at the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) now defunct Participation Rule, which requires listing brokers to make a blanket offer of compensation to the buyer’s broker in order to list a property on a Realtor-affiliated MLS. However, NAR was never named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
