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Four months after seven real estate agents filed a class action lawsuit against Move, the parent company of Realtor.com, for allegedly selling unvetted and fraudulent leads, the defendants have moved the case to federal court.
In an eight-page takedown notice filed on Tuesday, Move’s attorneys said the lawsuit was transferred from Los Angeles County Superior Court to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA). Ta. ). CAFA provides that a federal court has plaintiff jurisdiction in a class action if the plaintiff is a citizen of a different state than the defendants, if the punitive class has at least 100 members, and if the amount in dispute is It states that something is the case if three criteria are met. Over $5 million.
“Six of the seven plaintiffs reside outside of California and Delaware and are not citizens of California or Delaware. Only one plaintiff is a resident of California, and the plaintiff class is located outside of California and Delaware. “It is said to be comprised of real estate agents,” the filing says of the first standard of minimum diversity.
“As Plaintiffs allege, Move, Inc. and Move Sales, Inc. are citizens of both Delaware and California, respectively. The company must be a citizen of the country.
As for the punitive rating and damages criteria, Move’s attorneys said the lawsuit meets both because it targets real estate agents who have used Move’s lead discovery services within the past four years. Because of the large size of the punitive class, the amount at issue is calculated to exceed $5 million, taking into account compensatory damages, punitive damages, compensatory damages, attorney’s fees, and injunctive relief.
“We find no merit in Plaintiffs’ claims, causes of action, damages, compensation, and attorneys’ fees, and that the amounts at issue in Plaintiffs’ complaint do not meet CAFA’s jurisdictional standards,” the court documents state. “,” court documents state. -Dispute requirements.
Mr. Move’s attorneys said moving the case to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California meets CAFA’s criteria because Los Angeles County Superior Court is within the Central District of California. The other defendants, Move’s parent company News Corp., the National Association of Realtors and Opcity, also agreed to the request, according to the filing.
“None of Move’s attorneys have appeared in court or filed a pleading or other documents in response to the complaint in Superior Court,” court documents state. “Move will promptly provide written notice to Plaintiff of the filing of this takedown notice, and will promptly file written notice with the Clerk of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, along with a copy of this takedown notice, for delivery to all persons. “party. ”
According to bloomberg law, A takedown notice is all you need to move your case to federal documents. However, the plaintiff’s attorney may move to have the case sent back to state court. A federal court can also deny a takedown notice and send the case back to state court.
Move declined to comment on the takedown request, saying, “We have no further comment regarding ongoing litigation at this time.”
Meanwhile, attorneys for the plaintiffs have not yet responded to Inman’s request for comment.
Move’s takedown notice is the first major update in the class action lawsuit filed in August.
Seven real estate agents in California, Nevada, Washington, Florida, Georgia, and New York have filed a lawsuit against Move for allegedly selling unvetted and fraudulent leads through Move Network sites including Realtor.com, ListHub, and UpNest. filed a lawsuit. NAR, News Corp, and real estate lead generation technology platform Opcity were named as co-defendants for their involvement in an alleged scheme to sell fake buyer leads.
The complaint alleges that Move uses websites, web properties that it owns, manages, operates, or is affiliated with to collect information about users searching for common real estate terms (e.g., real estate, real estate, housing, mortgage, etc.) , claims to collect data from digital and social media sites. It appears that people are in the market for large purchases other than real estate, such as cars. These users are presented as highly-vetted, highly motivated leads to Realtor.com’s suite of buyer and seller lead generation solutions, including Connections Plus, ReadyConnect Concierge (formerly Opcity), Market VIP, and ListHub.
In addition to allegedly selling unintentional leads, the complaint also alleges that some leads cannot be verified to be “actual, live human beings.” The lawsuit alleges that 40 to 50 percent of Realtor.com’s leads have no intent to buy real estate or cannot be verified. Additionally, they said Realtor.com sells the same group of leads (a minimum of 36 to 40 each month) to multiple agents, breaking its promise of lead exclusivity.
The plaintiffs said they notified Realtor.com about the problem with low-quality leads and requested a refund. However, Realtor.com’s sales team may deny refund requests, provide credits that can be used to purchase more leads, or offer agents higher-tier subscriptions for better lead quality. I even suggested that you buy it. Plaintiffs allege that News Corp, Move, Realtor.com, and NAR’s senior executives, managing agents, managers, directors, and officers were aware of the complaints and engaged in alleged unvetted fraudulent buyer and seller prospect sales. He claimed that he had “deliberately and consciously” ignored the issue.
A NAR spokesperson said in an earlier statement that its attorneys “will address these false allegations in court.”
Email Marian McPherson
