Compass Facing Joint Federal Lawsuit Against Six Listing Services Seeking To Uphold Rules That Promote Fair Competition, Protect Access To Housing Information, Prevent Large Brokerages From Gaining An Unfair Advantage

Six major multiple listing services (MLSs) representing more than 120,000 real estate professionals nationwide have filed a joint federal lawsuit against Compass, Inc., seeking to uphold rules that promote fair competition, protect access to housing information, and prevent large brokerages from gaining an unfair advantage by withholding publicly marketed properties from the shared real estate database.

Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, bridgeMLS, Canopy MLS, Doorify MLS, Hive MLS, and REcolorado filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York after Compass threatened lawsuits unless the organizations stopped enforcing rules requiring publicly marketed properties to be shared with other MLS participants.

The six organizations are asking the court to declare that their cooperation rules comply with applicable federal and state antitrust laws and to prevent Compass from pursuing legal claims challenging those rules.