Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. disclosed Wednesday that it has agreed to pay $53 million to resolve claims in sprawling multidistrict antitrust litigation accusing major landlords of conspiring to fix apartment rents through RealPage Inc.’s pricing software.

The disclosure came in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, outlining a deal that would mark one of the latest dominoes to fall in a case reshaping the rental housing industry nationwide.

Two Payments, One Resolution

Under the agreement, Mid-America will pay the settlement in two equal installments of $26.5 million, totaling $53 million. The funds are intended to settle claims brought by a certified class of multifamily renters who paid rent to landlords, owners or property managers using RealPage’s revenue management software.

The plaintiffs allege that the software functioned as a shared compass for pricing decisions, steering landlords toward coordinated rent increases rather than independent competition.

Business Practices Under the Microscope

Beyond the cash payment, Mid-America agreed to a series of commitments tied to its business practices. Those include provisions governing the disclosure and use of nonpublic data and how the company employs revenue management software.

In its filing, the company said the commitments align with its current practices and will not require material changes to day-to-day operations.

As part of the process, plaintiffs are required to seek preliminary court approval of the settlement by March 31.

No Admission of Fault

Mid-America emphasized that the mid-america $53m settlement does not amount to an admission of wrongdoing or liability.

“The claims asserted in the class action litigation were directed at numerous participants across the industry,” the company said, noting that roughly 50 of the nation’s largest multifamily housing owners and operators were named. Resolving the dispute now, it added, would spare the company the expense and distraction of prolonged litigation.

Representatives for Mid-America and attorneys for the renter class did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Wednesday.

Part of a Much Bigger Picture

The settlement follows a key development last November, when the Tennessee federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation preliminarily approved 26 class settlements totaling about $141 million. That approval came despite objections from the attorneys general of Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Maryland and Kentucky.

Those state officials argued the court lacked sufficient detail to evaluate whether the settlements were fair.

States Push Back — and Get Pushed Back

In their objections, the attorneys general said the plaintiffs’ memorandum seeking preliminary approval failed to estimate how much individual class members might receive. They argued it did not explain how settlement funds would be distributed, how attorneys’ fees and litigation costs would be handled, or whether the recoveries were proportionate to alleged harms.

The memorandum, they added, never compared the total settlement amounts with estimated aggregate damages or rent overcharges, nor did it calculate any percentage recovery.

Several landlords countered that the states lacked standing to object, pointing to the Sixth Circuit’s 2019 ruling in Chapman v. Tristar Products Inc. In that case, the appellate court rejected Arizona’s attempt to object to a nationwide class action settlement, holding that objections belonged to class members themselves.

“In insisting that parens patriae and CAFA give them a unique interest,” the landlords argued, the attorneys general were rehashing arguments already rejected by Chapman.

Legal Teams on Both Sides

The renter class is represented by a broad coalition of law firms, including Scott + Scott Attorneys at Law LLP, Robins Kaplan LLP, Hausfeld LLP, Berger Montague, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Lowey Dannenberg PC, Joseph Saveri Law Firm LLP, Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP and Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton LLP, among others.

Mid-America Apartment Communities is represented by attorneys from Mayer Brown LLP and Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.

As courts continue to sift through the claims, the mid-america $53m settlement underscores the mounting pressure on landlords to resolve allegations that pricing algorithms crossed the line from efficiency tool to antitrust lightning rod.