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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Legal Proceedings

Below, and in Item 1. Legal Proceedings, is a discussion of our material, pending legal proceedings. We cannot estimate a range of reasonably possible losses given the preliminary stage of these proceedings and the claims and issues presented. In addition to the matters discussed below, from time to time, we are involved in litigation, claims, and other proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. Except for the matters discussed below and in Item 1. Legal Proceedings, we do not believe that any of our pending litigation, claims, and other proceedings are material to our business.

Lawsuit by David Eraker—On May 11, 2020, David Eraker, our co-founder and former chief executive officer who departed Redfin in 2006, filed a complaint through Appliance Computing III, Inc. (d/b/a Surefield) ("Surefield"), which is a company that Mr. Eraker founded and that we believe he controls, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division. The complaint alleged that we were infringing four patents claimed to be owned by Surefield without its authorization or license. Surefield sought an unspecified amount of damages and an injunction against us offering products and services that allegedly infringe the patents at issue. On May 17, 2022, the jury returned a verdict in our favor, finding that we did not infringe any of the asserted claims of the patents claimed to be owned by Surefield, and accordingly, we do not owe any damages to Surefield. The jury also found that all asserted claims of Surefield’s claimed patents were invalid. The court entered final judgment on August 15, 2022. On September 12, 2022, Surefield filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law and a motion for a new trial. In the motions, Surefield asserts that no jury could have found non-infringement based on the trial record, among other things. We filed oppositions to the motions on October 3, 2022 and Surefield filed replies on October 21, 2022.

Lawsuits Alleging Misclassification—On August 28, 2019, Devin Cook, who was one of our former independent contractor licensed sales associates, whom we call associate agents, filed a complaint against us in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The plaintiff initially pled the complaint as a class action and alleged that we misclassified her as an independent contractor instead of an employee. The plaintiff also sought unspecified penalties pursuant to representative claims under California’s Private Attorney General Act ("PAGA"). On January 30, 2020, the plaintiff filed a first amended complaint dismissing her class action claim and asserting only claims under PAGA.

On November 20, 2020, Jason Bell, who was one of our former lead agents as well as a former associate agent, filed a complaint against us in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The complaint was pled as a class action and alleges that, (1) during the time he served as an associate agent, we misclassified him as an independent contractor instead of an employee and (2) during the time he served as a lead agent, we misclassified him as an employee who was exempt from minimum wage and overtime laws. The plaintiff also asserted representative claims under PAGA. The plaintiff sought unspecified amounts of unpaid overtime wages, regular wages, meal and rest period compensation, waiting time and other penalties, injunctive and other equitable relief, and plaintiff's attorneys' fees and costs.
On May 23, 2022, pursuant to a combined mediation, we settled the lawsuits brought by Ms. Cook and Mr. Bell for an aggregate of $3,000. This amount is subject to adjustment if our actual number of associate agents, lead agents, or their respective workweeks differs from the number that we represented to the plaintiffs. This settlement is subject to court approval. On April 7, 2023, plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary approval of the class settlements. The motion for preliminary approval of the class settlement was granted by the court on May 4, 2023. The hearing for final approval of the class settlement is set for November 27, 2023.

Other Commitments

Our title and settlement business and our mortgage business each hold cash in escrow at third-party financial institutions on behalf of homebuyers and home sellers. As of September 30, 2023, we held $34,980 in escrow and did not record this amount on our consolidated balance sheets. We may be held contingently liable for the disposition of the cash we hold in escrow.