Former Douglas Elliman agent withdraws lawsuit that sought unpaid commissions

A former Douglas Elliman agent has withdrawn a lawsuit that sought to recoup $1.6 million in clawbacks from deals that closed after she left the brokerage.

New York and Miami agent Holly Parker claimed she’s owed commissions on deals that were pending following her exit from Douglas Elliman. In the withdrawal, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Parker disclosed that the firm wants to arbitrate the claims rather than litigate them in court.

The Real Deal was first to report the news.

Parker made the move to Compass in February after more 20 years with Elliman. She filed the suit in April, saying that she was owed a 40% commission on 16 deals. She claims in the complaint that Elliman was angry over her decision to leave.

The parties signed an independent contractor agreement upon her joining the firm, but according to Parker, she signed side letters in 2020 and 2022 that formalized her right to commissions if she left the company prior to 2025. This documentation should override the original agreement, she argued.

In addition to the clawback amount, she sought damages of $385,540.

According to the RealTrends Verified 2025 Team Rankings, the Holly Parker Team closed 91 sides in 2024 for a sales volume of $348.5 million, good for an average sale price of $3.8 million.

The lawsuit is one of many headline-grabbing developments at Elliman.

In May, Anywhere Real Estate made an unsolicited offer to acquire Elliman that valued the brokerage at more than $4 a share.

That followed a period of internal turmoil among Elliman’s leadership staff. Longtime Douglas Elliman Realty CEO Scott Durkin was fired just days after parent company CEO Howard Lorber announced his retirement.

Lorber admitted to having intimate relationships with two company brokers, and shareholders called for his compensation to be cut following accusations of sexual assault against former Elliman agents Tal and Oren Alexander.