NAR, 4 brokerages ask court to toss out Homie suit
The defendants cite a lack of jurisdiction in the case, which alleges that NAR “controls competition” and accuses brokers of steering buyers away from listings.
Several major brokerages and the National Association of Realtors are looking to quickly quash litigation from a Utah discount brokerage over buyer agent commissions.
Anywhere, RE/MAX, Keller Williams and HomeServices of America joined NAR in filing motions to dismiss documents in the August class action lawsuit brought by Homie, a flat-fee brokerage that also offers home loan, insurance and title services.
Earlier this month, the Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service, which operates UtahRealEstate.com, was dismissed from the case without prejudice. No reason for the dismissal was stated.
Case background: Homie has accused the brokerages and NAR of anticompetitive behavior and steering, similar to allegations made by home sellers in Sitzer/Burnett and related cases. In its August filing, Homie provided details of emails and texts from NAR member brokers telling the company they would not show Homie listings to their clients because the commission fee was too low.
Homie also pointed to Facebook groups that organized boycotts of the company's listings, sometimes using the hashtag #boycottHOMIE.
The arguments to dismiss: In motions filed October 18, the defendants cited a lack of jurisdiction and argued that Homie failed to show that any of the brokerages agreed to boycott Homie listings.
Attorneys for Keller Williams also argued that the price fixing claims are just repackaged from earlier commissions cases.
"The only material allegations that Homie does not borrow from Burnett and Batton — social media posts and messages by anonymous real estate agents requesting that Homie offer higher commissions — are plainly insufficient to plead that Keller Williams joined a boycott. Those social media posts and messages are not even alleged to have been made by Keller Williams or its affiliates," KW stated in its filing.
Attorneys for NAR argued that Homie itself stood to benefit from any alleged practices that resulted in higher commissions.
"If the policies challenged by Homie in fact elevated brokerage commissions, that would have enabled Homie to increase its own commissions (making more money on each transaction) or attract more clients with lower commissions (increasing its transaction volume)," NAR attorneys said in their filing.
On its website, Homie claims it has saved clients more than $100 million in commissions and fees by offering a flat fee for home-selling services