Home American Services At least for now, they can preserve some of their legitimate war chest.
The housing brokerage was this week dismissed from one of the earliest Real Estate Board cases known as “Baton 1,” after the name of the lead plaintiff, a homebuyer named Maia Batton.
judge andrea wood United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The plaintiffs’ claims were dismissed based on federal antitrust law. But Mr. Wood, who also oversees the Mail Commission’s litigation, upheld nearly all of the plaintiffs’ claims under state antitrust laws (with the exception of Tennessee and Kansas).
In Tuesday’s dismissal, Wood said the plaintiffs’ claims for injunctive relief under the Sherman Antitrust Act were dismissed in May 2022 in the original complaint filed in 2021 (formerly known as the Leader case). wrote that it “essentially reflects” the argument made in . . Wood wrote Tuesday that home sellers are “better suited to seek injunctive relief.”
Wood also noted the $5.36 billion Sitzer/Barnett judgment. National Association of Realtors (NAR), keller williams and home services Affiliates were found to have conspired to increase or stabilize commissions paid by sellers.
“To the extent that purported class members, in their capacity as buyers, face a serious threat of harm from Defendants’ antitrust claims, they may also be harmed as sellers. is high, which means you are at risk of suffering the same damages that the certified home seller class suffered in Mehl and Barnett,” Wood wrote.
In Baton 1, the plaintiffs allege that NAR, a 1.4 million-member trade association that defends the interests of real estate brokers, conspired with brokers to violate anticompetitive policies that apply to the majority of real estate brokers. As a result, homebuyers pay ultra-competitive commissions to the agents they contract to help them buy a home.
At issue are NAR’s rules and policies governing the MLS, which are enforced by the local real estate agent associations that own the MLS. In effect, Plaintiffs argue that access to the MLS by brokers and individual real estate agents is conditional on following the rules of his NAR, and that given the commercial need for MLS access, brokers have no choice but to comply. They argue that there are few options.
In yesterday’s ruling, Mr. Wood dismissed the claims without prejudice, allowing the plaintiffs to refile the case if they wish. Because HomeServices and its affiliates are not based in Illinois, the federal claims were denied, but the state claims can proceed.
