A preliminary injunction hearing requested by Zillow in May was held July 1-2 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The hearing will determine whether Zillow can continue enforcing its ban on MRED’s listing feed while its lawsuit against Compass and MRED proceeds toward trial.
The lawsuit, which was filed May 12, followed an April agreement in which Compass said it would share its nationwide listings through MRED’s private listing network as part of an expanded MLS partnership. Zillow alleges the agreement was designed to “threaten Zillow’s Chicagoland listing data feed.”
Zillow also alleges that MRED demanded it restore Compass’ private listings from outside of its territory and threatened to terminate Zillow’s access if it did not comply. MRED ultimately cut off Zillow’s access for two days before a judge ordered the feed restored on May 22.
Separately, last week the Consumer Federation of America, along with housing, consumer and civil rights organizations, urged the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the Compass-MRED agreement for potential antitrust violations and civil rights harms.
According to Zillow, chief industry development officer Errol Samuelson told the court on the first day of the hearing that the core problem with Compass’ private listing model is that it routes buyers only through Compass agents, therefore “enabling the brokerage to potentially double-end commissions and off-market inventory as a recruiting tool.”
Samuelson said, “Our brand promise is to show everything on the market. We turn on the lights. If we can’t show everything for sale, we lose brand trust.”
Other witnesses who testified in the two-day hearing included:
- Chris Haran, MRED managing director and chief technology officer
- Fran Broude, Compass regional vice president
- Jeremy Hofmann, Zillow chief financial officer
- Ron McColly, McColly real estate broker
- Lawrence Wu, expert witness
- Robert Reffkin, Compass International Holdings CEO
- Rebecca Jensen, MRED CEO
- Debra Aron, expert witness
Devin Daly Huerta, senior corporate communications lead with Compass, told Chicago Agent, “Zillow’s ban hurts consumers and merely serves to entrench Zillow’s dominance and block consumer choice. Buyers on Zillow are not told that listings are being filtered. There is no disclosure that the available inventory has been hidden from them. MRED’s Private Listing Network (PLN) exists to give sellers control, privacy and flexibility. It has existed for over 10 years without complaint. Zillow NOW seeks to eliminate that choice for its selfish business purposes.”
A ruling is expected after July 13.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.