"Change is a matter of 'when,' not 'if,'" NextHome Co-Founder and CEO James Dwiggins told attendees during a pair of prescient panels at the T3 Tech Summit last month. (Note: Real Estate News and T3 Sixty share a founder, Stefan Swanepoel.) It all starts with this: All the defendants are going to settle. Even NAR, which has been vocal about its willingness to keep fighting.

"They're putting on a game face for all of us, as they should," Miller said. But if NAR and others don't settle, the door is open for copycat lawsuits, like the one filed by the Sitzer/Burnett lawyers immediately following the verdict in that case, or others from less prominent attorneys hoping to cash in. "And it's relatively inexpensive for them to do so because those big, highly paid corporate class action attorneys have done all the heavy lifting for them," Miller said. "They go find some sellers and they just copy that lawsuit and they're just printing money." Settlements can close that door.