Compass escalates battle with MLSs, suing 15 in federal court
The brokerage giant is challenging the pre-marketing rules of major MLSs across the country, including six in California and three in North Carolina.
In yet another escalation of Compass' ongoing battle with multiple listing services, the mega brokerage announced on Nov. 12 that it has sued 15 MLSs across the country.
The antitrust lawsuits challenge each organization's rules surrounding the public marketing of home listings that do not appear on the MLS.
A barrage of lawsuits
The MLSs now facing lawsuits initiated Thursday by the brokerage are in eight states, including three in North Carolina (Canopy MLS, Hive MLS and Doorify MLS) and six in California (bridgeMLS, Bay East MLS, Contra Costa MLS, MLSListings, MLS/CLAW and San Diego MLS).
Notably, Southern California-based MLS/CLAW entered into a partnership with Compass earlier this year after updating its IDX policy to include a new listing status allowing agents to pre-market listings to the MLS's members without syndicating those listings to third-party sites.
Compass has also sued Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS), REcolorado, Minnesota-based NorthstarMLS, Texas-based HAR, Florida-based Stellar MLS and OneKey MLs in New York.
Real Estate News has reached out to each MLS and will update this story with any response.
Compass makes good on weekslong vow
The lawsuits were filed two months after Compass sent several MLSs demand letters warning that they would face litigation unless they changed their rules governing how homes are marketed and stopped penalizing agents who do not abide by those rules.
In one such letter previously reviewed by Real Estate News, Compass accused California Regional MLS (CRMLS) of violating antitrust laws when it fines real estate agents who publicly market office-exclusive listings. The letter called for changes to the MLS's policy — and if it refused, Compass said it would sue.
The firm eventually did sue CRMLS on Oct. 16 — but not before the MLS filed its own lawsuit seeking to block future litigation by the brokerage over listing policies, which CRMLS wants a federal judge to validate. OneKey MLS later joined CRMLS's complaint, and seven other MLSs — all of which are now targeted in this latest wave of litigation — banded together separately to sue Compass on Oct. 21.
What Compass alleges
In Compass' lawsuit against CRMLS, the brokerage took issue with the MLS's practice of fining, suspending or expelling agents who violate its public marketing rules, with fines in certain cases topping out at $15,000. Some of these agents face repercussions despite following "their client's lawful instructions to publicly market their property outside" the MLS, according to the Oct. 16 filing.
The 15 new antitrust complaints make similar allegations using language that mirrors Compass' lawsuit against CRMLS.
"It's almost as if these MLSs are asking people to ignore the evidence that proves their claims aren't true," a Compass spokesperson said in a statement, adding that some of the top MLS in the country have "allowed agents to publicly market 'office exclusives' without fines" for "years" — "and none of the problems they warn about have happened."
"Only the law and the homeowner should tell agents how to market a home, and the MLS is neither the law nor the homeowner," the spokesperson added. "Agents should be free to compete on the marketing strategies they offer."
This is a breaking story that will be updated with additional information.