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The U.S. Department of Justice has a proposed settlement between the largest multiple listing service in New England and homeseller plaintiffs in its crosshairs, suggesting the commission rule changes in the deal may not go far enough.
On Friday, attorneys for the DOJ’s Antitrust Division asked Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts to extend by two months the upcoming deadlines for reviewing the agreement between the plaintiffs and broker-owned multiple listing service MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN).
As part of the deal, MLS PIN agreed to overhaul its commission policies, pay $3 million, and “cooperate” in the litigation against the remaining defendants named in the suit: Real estate franchisors Anywhere (formerly Realogy), RE/MAX, Keller Williams and HomeServices of America.
“The United States has significant concerns with the planned rule changes under the Proposed Settlement,” the DOJ’s Sept. 28 filing reads.
“Evidence from other multiple listing services suggests that merely tweaking a buyer-broker commission rule to allow zero-percent commissions does little to ‘unfetter a market from anti-competitive conduct…’”
The case, known as Nosalek after its lead homeseller plaintiff (previously Bauman), was filed in Dec. 2020. Like federal commission suits Moehrl and Sitzer/Burnett, it seeks class-action status and alleges that the sharing of commissions between listing and buyer brokers inflates seller costs and is a conspiracy in restraint of trade, a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
However, Nosalek differs in one important respect from the other suits: The…