Overview
- Six regional multiple listing services filed a joint federal complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York asking for a declaration that their cooperation rules comply with federal and state antitrust laws.
- The MLSs also asked the court to enjoin Compass from pursuing antitrust suits against them and to award attorneys' fees and costs.
- The suit follows demand letters from Compass in September that threatened litigation over MLS penalties for publicly marketing homes without submitting listings and comes after Compass sued CRMLS in a related dispute.
- The contested cooperation rules generally require brokers to add a property to the shared MLS database within one business day of publicly marketing it and include narrow privacy exceptions, which MLSs say prevent fragmentation of listing data and protect buyers, sellers, and smaller brokerages.
- The plaintiffs represent more than 120,000 real estate professionals and will keep enforcing their rules while the case proceeds, setting the stage for a likely prolonged court battle that could change how listing data, market access, and consumer transparency work in U.S. housing markets.