Sixth Circuit Will Decide Whether Private Class Settlements Can Extinguish State Damages Claims in In re RealPage
The Sixth Circuit is reviewing whether private class settlements can displace state attorneys general’s damages claims against RealPage landlords. The appeal tests who controls recovery when public and private suits overlap.
In re RealPage, Inc., Rental Software Antitrust Litigation (No. II), No. 26-5655 (6th Cir.), on appeal from No. 3:23-md-03071 (M.D. Tenn.)
The Sixth Circuit is reviewing an order holding that private class settlements with RealPage landlords, now totaling $359.9 million, displace the damages claims that state attorneys general are pursuing for their own residents. If the order stands, a defendant facing parallel suits can settle damages with class counsel and leave the states only penalties and injunctions. A coalition of 25 states has now filed an amicus brief supporting the appeal.¹
The Order on Appeal
On July 16, 2026, Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. denied a motion by the attorneys general of the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington to intervene and to clarify or modify the preliminary approval orders under Rules 59 and 60.² The court read the settlement agreements to preserve claims brought by states “to vindicate sovereign or quasi-sovereign interests,” including civil penalties and injunctive relief. It held that the states’ parens patriae damages claims duplicate the class members’ claims and belong to the class members, not the states. The five attorneys general noticed their appeal on July 21, and the Sixth Circuit docketed it on July 24.³
How the Dispute Arose
In October 2025, the five attorneys general warned that the releases could foreclose their parens patriae damages claims against six landlords they were also suing. Those defendants answered that the claims belonged to the class and asked the court to enjoin the states under the All Writs Act.⁴ The November 21, 2025 preliminary approval order enjoined class members from pursuing released claims “in any forum” and excluded governmental entities from the class.⁴ The states later argued that expanded injunction language could halt their pending suits, which seek penalties, disgorgement, and injunctive relief unavailable to private plaintiffs.⁵
The Question Presented
The core issue is who owns a state’s parens patriae damages claim once a class settles. The federal statute answers the duplication problem at the remedy stage, not by extinguishing the state’s cause of action. Section 4C of the Clayton Act authorizes an attorney general to sue as parens patriae for injury to residents and directs the court to exclude any monetary relief that “duplicates amounts which have been awarded for the same injury.”⁶ That text presupposes a surviving state claim that a court trims to avoid double recovery. The district court instead treated the state claim as the class members’ property, releasable by class counsel in a case to which the states were never parties.
Several appellants sue under their own antitrust statutes. The Sixth Circuit must also decide how far a federal class release can reach claims that state law vests in sovereigns the class expressly excluded.
What Happens Next
The final approval hearing is set for October 15, 2026 before Judge Crenshaw. The same attorneys general have moved to intervene for the limited purpose of objecting at final approval, and briefing on that motion closes October 2.⁷ Parallel public enforcement continues. On September 30, a North Carolina federal court held that the Department of Justice’s consent judgment with RealPage does not moot the separate claims of the plaintiff states, which cannot enforce that decree.⁸ The Sixth Circuit has not ruled.
Notes
1. Matthew Perlman, States Back AGs’ 6th Circ. Bid To Keep RealPage Rent Claims, Law360 (Sept. 30, 2026).
2. In re RealPage, Inc., Rental Software Antitrust Litig. (No. II), No. 3:23-md-03071 (M.D. Tenn. July 16, 2026) (denying the State AGs’ motion to intervene and to clarify or modify the preliminary approval orders).
3. Jared Foretek, AGs Appeal Order Blocking RealPage Damages in MDL, Law360 (July 22, 2026).
4. Elizabeth Hereford, RealPage and Certain Landlords MDL, ABA Section of Antitrust Law (describing the dispute over the releases).
5. Orrick, State Attorneys General Update (Aug. 2026) (summarizing the states’ position).
6. 15 U.S.C. § 15c(a)(1) (directing the court to exclude duplicative monetary relief from a parens patriae award).
7. Court-Approved Extension of Certain Settlement Deadlines, In re RealPage, No. 3:23-md-03071 (M.D. Tenn.) (setting the final approval schedule).
8. United States v. RealPage, Inc. (M.D.N.C. Sept. 30, 2026) (Osteen, J.) (holding that the federal final judgment does not moot the plaintiff states’ claims).