TAN and NAR have agreed to dismiss their lawsuit, based on court docket paperwork filed on Monday. Nevertheless, Prime Agent Community can re-file prices or deliver the case to a different court docket sooner or later.
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A lawsuit filed by the Prime Agent Community (TAN) in opposition to the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors (NAR) has been dismissed for a second time, based on authorized filings.
As of Monday, TAN and NAR notified Choose Vince Chhabria that they’d agreed to dismiss the lawsuit with out prejudice. Every get together will cowl their very own attorneys’ charges and bills, the submitting specified. The designation of “without prejudice” implies that the plaintiff is allowed to re-file prices or deliver the case to a different court docket.
“The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Top Agent Network (TAN) announce that they have reached an agreement under which TAN will dismiss its pending antitrust case against NAR without prejudice,” a joint assertion from TAN and NAR despatched to Inman mentioned.
“This pause will allow NAR to continue to deliberate the future of the Clear Cooperation Policy, including any possible interpretations or modifications.”
Requested whether or not any cash modified arms between TAN and NAR as a part of a settlement or different settlement and whether or not TAN deliberate to re-file the swimsuit at a later date, TAN declined to remark.
TAN initially filed the lawsuit in Could 2020 to “stop NAR and its affiliates from conspiring to shut down competition, disrupt the relationship between real estate agents and their clients, and take away a family’s freedom to choose how to market their home for sale.”
The lawsuit was filed in response to NAR’s Clear Cooperation Coverage, which was adopted in Could 2020 and requires listings to be placed on the MLS inside 24 hours of being publicly marketed. Brokers from TAN argued that homesellers ought to have extra of a alternative within the matter of placing their properties up on the MLS. This 12 months, the coverage has turn out to be extra contentious because the U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) has continued to scrutinize NAR’s practices, and many actual property leaders have weighed in on whether or not or not the coverage ought to proceed as-is, be abolished or be amended.
“While most homesellers prefer to market through the MLS — which generally puts a listing before the most eyeballs the fastest — at any given time a significant percentage of consumers prefer not to do so,” an amended criticism filed in Oct. 2024 acknowledged.
“Many consumers wish to preserve their privacy and do not want to host viewings or have their property widely available for viewing on a listing website,” the criticism continues. “Other consumers engage in limited off-MLS marketing to ‘test the waters’ to determine the appropriate price for their home listing on the local MLS — MLSs retain listing data and overpricing a home on the MLS and failing to achieve a quick sale can lead to a lasting drop in the property’s value.”
The court docket initially dismissed the lawsuit in 2021 with prejudice, arguing that TAN was the flawed plaintiff for such a lawsuit in opposition to NAR, for the reason that community’s enterprise mannequin in itself was allegedly anticompetitive.
TAN later appealed the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals. In 2023, the appeals court docket vacated the decrease court docket determination in ruling that allegations made in TAN’s lawsuit had been practically equal to allegations made in a lawsuit filed by the PLS.com — a lawsuit that had been allowed to maneuver ahead.
In December 2023, the lawsuit was reopened by Choose Chhabria and TAN filed a movement for reconsideration in Could 2024. Choose Chhabria granted that request in July 2024, stating that TAN had “adequately alleged antitrust injury.”
The San Francisco Affiliation of Realtors had been an authentic defendant within the lawsuit, however in October 2024, TAN determined to focus its authorized battle on NAR and eliminated the San Francisco Affiliation of Realtors as a defendant.
The years’-long authorized battle eventually seems to be resolved — at the least for now.
Inman Deputy Editor Andrea V. Brambila contributed reporting for this story.
