October 15, 2025
Attorneys general of the District of Columbia and three states told a Tennessee federal court Wednesday that they have concerns about a combined $141.8 million worth of class settlements for antitrust claims against several multifamily landlords that allegedly used property management software company RealPage Inc.’s technology for rent price-fixing.
In their court notice, the attorneys general for Washington, D.C., Maryland, Washington and New Jersey said that they want to file a statement of interest in the proposed class action, which accused the landlords of conspiring to use RealPage’s revenue management software to set rents in ways that didn’t compete with one another.
The proposed class is currently seeking preliminary approval for 26 settlements worth $141.8 million. The 26 settlements don’t include RealPage itself.
But, according to the attorneys general, these proposed settlement agreements “could impact the state AGs’ ongoing enforcement actions currently pending in other courts.”
“For example, some of the releases in the proposed settlement agreements define released claims to include claims for ‘penalties,’ which often may be sought exclusively by government actors such as state AGs,” they claimed. “The state AGs would be prejudiced if they were not permitted to raise these issues with this court before preliminary approval and notice is issued to the class.”
The attorneys general also argued that the Class Action Fairness Act requires notices to be sent to relevant state officials for proposed settlements within 10 days of disclosure. Additionally, according to the attorneys general, the CAFA notices allow them to assess the settlements because the notices tell them about how many residents can get paid by settlements.
“To date, however, there has not been sufficient time to confirm whether the appropriate notice has been disseminated; for example, Washington has no record of receiving a CAFA notice,” they alleged. “Allowing the state AGs an opportunity to review the proposed settlements and submit a statement in response would be consistent with the role CAFA envisions for the states in protecting their economies and their residents’ interests.”
Also, the attorneys general claimed that they could provide their own “useful perspective” about the litigation because of related “pre- and post-filing investigations.”
. . .
Washington, D.C., is represented by attorneys at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Spragens Law PLC, and Adam Gitlin, Mehreen Imtiaz and Ashley Walters of the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Public Advocacy Division.
Maryland is represented by Schonette J. Walker and Melissa L. English of the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland and attorneys at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
New Jersey is represented by Brian F. McDonough, David Reichenberg, Jesse J. Sierant and Douglas T. Post of the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and attorneys at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
Read AGs Concerned About Landlord Settlements in RealPage Case.