The Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors (NAR) hit again at REX – Actual Property Trade Inc.’s bid to get rid of its counterclaim from the events’ feud on Monday. Initially, REX filed swimsuit towards on-line residence shopping for and promoting platform Zillow Inc. and NAR over collusive conduct that it claims amounted to a bunch boycott and violated Washington and federal antitrust legal guidelines.
As beforehand reported, the challenged conduct consists of NAR guidelines that allegedly limit commerce within the business and Zillow’s reformatting of its web site that purportedly shunted REX listings to a little-seen tab. The swimsuit largely survived dismissal in a sequence of choices issued by Choose Thomas S. Zilly.
In its most up-to-date opinion, the courtroom dismissed REX’s refreshed state and Lanham Act claims for false promoting or misleading acts towards NAR. Since then, REX moved to dismiss NAR’s counterclaim for false promoting regarding a number of statements purporting to “draw a direct comparability between REX’s personal charges and people purportedly charged by different brokers on account of NAR’s guidelines.”
On this week’s rebuttal, NAR summarizes the conduct underlying its counterclaim. “REX lied about its personal companies and lied about what NAR’s guidelines require, after which it peddled these lies to get extra enterprise and harm NAR’s repute,” the submitting says. Substantively, the commerce affiliation argues that it has acknowledged a viable Lanham Act declare.
In assist, NAR argues that REX’s on-line commercials are actionable false or deceptive statements of reality. Opposite to REX’s rivalry that they’re opinions, NAR claims that the challenged statements are able to being confirmed false. NAR makes use of exemplary statements for example the purpose, like the next: “Both REX does have ‘PhDs from one of the best faculties within the nation predicting who we expect inside a sure radius or sq. mile or demographic is one of the best purchaser to your residence,’ or it doesn’t.”
Subsequent, NAR contends that it has standing to problem REX’s statements opposite to REX’s assertion that it has not adequately alleged damage. NAR says it has sufficiently pleaded reputational damage, per REX’s representations that indicate adverse details like “NAR’s guidelines discourage brokers affiliated with NAR from utilizing modern new applied sciences to promote actual property and supply decrease commissions.”
Within the occasion of dismissal, NAR asks that the courtroom grant it depart to amend.
REX is represented by Foster Garvey PC, McCarty Regulation PLLC, and Lehotsky Keller LLP. NAR is represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.