FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Keller Williams litigation history
What Keller Williams disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 3 lists the material legal actions a franchisor must report; Item 4 covers bankruptcy. This is the franchisor's own disclosure, not a court record, and not legal advice.
Items 3 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 29
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $70.0M
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2025
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
Multiple pending antitrust class actions (Moehrl/Sitzer/buyer-side) related to MLS buyer broker commission conspiracies; several TCPA class actions; individual business disputes (Davis, Basinski, Morris, Fetick, Coffey, Montalbano); global $70M settlement of Moehrl/Sitzer/Umpa cases achieved in 2024; several concluded cases settled including $40M TCPA class settlement (DeShay)
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Multiple active class action antitrust lawsuits (Moehrl, Sitzer) alleging commission inflation conspiracy create existential legal and reputational risk to the franchise system
- System declining 0.5% YoY with 773 units suggests erosion of franchisee confidence and potential accelerating departures if litigation outcomes are unfavorable
- Going Concern = False status indicates franchisor financial instability or auditor concerns about long-term viability, threatening support infrastructure and system cohesion
- 5-year term with no renewal guarantees combined with litigation risk creates uncertainty in franchisee's ability to recoup initial investment
The verdict grade is FranchiseVerdict's editorial assessment across SBA loan performance, unit growth, revenue and disclosure signals. It is not investment advice.
Before you weigh a lawsuit
How to read Item 3
A franchisor must disclose pending actions and any material civil action involving the franchise relationship, plus convictions or civil judgments for fraud, unfair or deceptive practices, or franchise-law violations, going back ten years. A case the franchisor brought against a franchisee counts too. Item 3 does not include every dispute: settled claims below the materiality line and matters resolved in private arbitration can be absent.
Questions worth asking current and former franchisees, using the contact list in Item 20:
- Were you, or anyone you know in the system, party to a dispute with the franchisor?
- Was it resolved by settlement, arbitration or a court, and on what terms?
- Has the number of disputes gone up or down since you signed?