Compass International Holdings is taking its fight with MLSs over their cooperation and listing submission rules to the next level. On Thursday evening, the real estate brokerage conglomerate fielded 15 lawsuits against 15 MLS.
The lawsuits all claim that these MLSs fine and punish agents who publicly market office exclusive listings at the request of the home seller.
Defendant in these lawsuits include bridgeMLS, Bay East MLS, Contra Costa MLS, MLSListings, The MLS-CLAW, San Diego MLS, Canopy MLS, Hive MLS, Doorify MLS, Arizona Regional MLS, Recolorado, NorthstarMLS, Houston Association of Realtors, Stellar MLS and OneKey MLS.
The claims in these lawsuits largely mirror those Compass made in the lawsuit it filed against California Regional MLS (CRMLS). In the suits, Compass claims that the policies these MLS defendants have that ‘punish agents for following a client’s lawful instructions to publicly market a property without placing it in the MLS’ prevent sellers, working with their agents from choosing a marketing strategy tailored to their needs, such as privacy-sensitive or phased exposure campaigns.
Compass also contends that MLS boards consist of Compass’s competitors who are dictating how Compass and its agents can and cannot compete in the marketplace. Compass has recently announced that it is banning all employees from serving in Realtor association leadership roles. The firm has not clarified if this also extends to non-Realtor affiliated MLSs or if it pertains to brokers and agents affiliated with Compass, as many Compass International Holdings agents and brokers serve on MLS and Realtor association boards.
“Only the law and the homeowner should tell agents how to market a home, and the MLS is neither the law nor the homeowner. Agents should be free to compete on the marketing strategies they offer,” a Compass spokesperson told HousingWire. “It’s almost as if these MLSs are asking people to ignore the evidence that proves their claims aren’t true. For years, seven of the top 25 MLSs, covering 340,000 agents across 12 states, have allowed agents to publicly market ‘office exclusives’ without fines, and none of the problems they warn about have happened. If what we are asking for is so bad, why has it worked for years in nearly 30% of the country?”
These lawsuits come after Compass International Holdings sent letters to MLSs in early September demanding that they stop enforcing rules governing when publicly marketed listings must be submitted to the MLS for cooperation. On stage at the Council of MLSs (CMLS) Open House conference in late September, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin threatened to sue any MLS that refused to change their rules in response to his firm’s demands.
In response to these threats, CRMLS, ARMLS, OneKey MLS, MLSListings, Bridge MLS, Canopy MLS, Recolorado, Hive MLS and Doorify MLS have filed two separate lawsuits against Compass International Holdings in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking a declaratory judgement from the court allowing them to continue enforcing their cooperation rules and policies without violating antitrust law.
The MLS defendants have not immediately returned HousingWire’s request for comment.
The Compass brokerage brand has recently announced a new broker-to-broker cooperation policy, which requires all Compass agents to cooperate with other brokers and agents, including for listings in Private Exclusive or Coming Soon marketing phases, unless otherwise instructed by the client in writing.
