Real Estate Exchange (Rex), a tech-focused real estate broker headquartered in Austin, Texas, scored a partial victory in its lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Seattle-based Zillow Group Inc.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly on Monday denied NAR's motion to dismiss antitrust claims from Rex. Rex's claims of false advertising and defamation, however, were dismissed.
"REX is the only real estate industry player willing to fight for consumers in the court of law and public opinion," Rex CEO Jack Ryan said in a news release. "The ruling is another important step towards reining in the anti-competitive policies that have come to define big real estate."
Rex's lawsuit arose from its listings moving from the Zillow website's "agent listings" tab to the harder-to-find "other listings" tab. The suit, filed in the Western District of Washington court, lists Zillow (Nasdaq: ZG) and NAR as defendants.
Rex takes issue with two NAR rules. The first rule, which is technically optional, says listings obtained from a multiple listings services' (MLS) internet data exchange should be separate from other listings. When Zillow redesigned its website in January, it began complying with this NAR rule, and Rex said its listings moved to the "other listings" tab, despite using licensed real estate agents, simply because the company isn't a member of NAR or any MLS.
The other rule, the buyer's agent commission rule, is mandatory and requires a seller's agent to...
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