Judge denies Zillow request to block Compass agent testimony 

In the courts this week, Compass and Zillow each notched a small victory, while a sexual misconduct case against eXp was amended to include an additional claim.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs in the Batton commissions case revised the damages requested for class representatives and members — but Anywhere argues that the case shouldn't be certified as a class action in the first place.

Compass agent to testify at November hearing

Compass scored a win and a loss this week in its lawsuit against Zillow.

On Oct. 30, the judge in the case approved Compass' request to have one of its agents testify as a witness at an upcoming Nov. 18-21 preliminary injunction hearing. 

Zillow had opposed the request as "untimely," but Judge Jeannette Vargas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York disagreed, saying the "Court will benefit from the proposed witness's perspective about the alleged anticompetitive harm at issue."

She also gave Zillow permission to depose the agent for two hours no later than Nov. 7.

Vargas agreed to keep the agent's name, phone number and license number temporarily redacted from court filings until she testifies, though a filing notes she is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and received a warning that she had violated Zillow's Listing Access Standards on Oct. 13.  

But Compass was not successful in its motion to compel Redfin to turn over two draft blog posts related to the new listing standards and an unredacted copy of a rental syndication agreement between Redfin and Zillow — which is now the subject of two antitrust lawsuits — in response to Compass subpoenas.

On Oct. 29, Vargas noted that her court is not the proper venue because the subpoenas list the place of compliance as Bellevue, Washington.

Sexual misconduct case against eXp now includes fraud claim

The plaintiffs in a sexual misconduct lawsuit against current and former eXp agents and executives have filed a third amended complaint, adding a claim of fraudulent misrepresentation against eXp Realty and eXp World Holdings, and disclosed the name of a plaintiff previously referred to as Jane Doe 3: Megan Farrell-Nelson.

On Oct. 27, the newly amended complaint in the case knows as Acevedo accused the brokerage of failing "to conduct a prompt, thorough investigation" of sexual assault complaints against eXp agents Michael Bjorkman and David Golden "despite having a Standard Operating Procedure detailing the exact steps eXp's compliance officers must take when investigating its agents' complaints."

The plaintiffs claim in the filing that eXp "purposefully declined to interview any of the witnesses" they had identified, and "purposefully declined to take sworn statements by anyone, including agents with personal knowledge that Defendant Bjorkman and Defendant Golden were likely responsible for drugging agents."

The filing also states that, after knowing of the allegations against Bjorkman — and in conflict with company policy — eXp Founder Glenn Sanford allowed Bjorkman to continuing receiving revenue share payments, and Sanford "vigorously advocated" that Bjorkman be returned to active status at eXp because he "was such a significant producer of eXp's income."

Similarly, the filing alleges that eXp did not investigate the allegations against Golden and continued to promote him as a top recruiter for the company's financial gain.

Batton plaintiffs revise damages; Anywhere opposes class certification

The homebuyers in a commissions-related lawsuit known as Batton have asked for permission to file a corrected motion for class certification after one of their experts discovered she had made "coding errors" when calculating damages.

Dr. Rosa M. Abrantes-Metz's updated calculations suggest class representatives should receive $9,333, not $8,524, and the total damages to be paid to class members who bought homes listed by the four MLSs she studied were reduced from about $3.6 billion to about $2.6 billion. 

In a separate Oct. 22 motion, one of the defendants, Anywhere, asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division to reject the plaintiffs' motion for class certification, arguing that most of the proposed class doesn't qualify based on the terms of earlier settlements.

Whether the court will allow buyers who also sold homes — and whose claims as sellers were already covered by nationwide settlements in other cases — to remain part of the buyer class, is a question currently on appeal. A judge in the Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson cases previously ruled that such buyers would not be eligible to participate in the class.