The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continued its courtroom battle with the National Association of REALTORS®’ (NAR) this week with a filing in appeals court.

The DOJ wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to stand by the April 2024 decision by a three-judge panel, to allow the DOJ to reexamine NAR listing and compensation policies for antitrust violations.

NAR has appealed against that ruling, asking for a rehearing in front of all the appeals court judges, or “en banc,” rather than the panel. NAR wants the DOJ to close an investigation started years ago and stick to the terms of a 2020 settlement agreement based on a brief letter from the DOJ. By continuing its investigation, the DOJ violated the terms of the settlement, says NAR.

In response, DOJ says it could not legally promise to forgo future antitrust investigations, and so the settlement letter could not be interpreted as a promise to never investigate again.

Following the election of President Joe Biden, DOJ leadership changed, and the DOJ withdrew its settlement in July 2021.

In September of 2021, NAR petitioned for the DOJ to stop or modify its investigation.

In January 2023, Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with NAR and ruled that the original settlement terms were still good.

Two months later, the DOJ appealed the ruling and a three-judge appeals court panel heard arguments in December 2023 before releasing its decision in April 2024, where two of the three judges ruled in favor of the DOJ, with one judge dissenting backing NAR’s reliance on the DOJ’s agreement to discontinue their investigation after NAR made several rule changes as part of the agreement.