Northern California MLSListings joins Compass antitrust fight

Yet another MLS is suing Compass International Holdings. In an amended complaint filed on Friday, MLSListings, a Northern California-based MLS that serves subscribers from over 6,000 brokerages in Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, joins the six MLSs that filed a suit against the Robert Reffkin-helmed firm in mid-October. The amended complaint reiterates the claims made in the initial complaint, which was filed by Arizona Regional MLS, Bridge MLS, Canopy MLS, REcolorado, Hive MLS, and Doorify MLS. Through this lawsuit, the MLS plaintiffs are asking the court to allow them to continue enforcing their cooperation rules and policies without violating antitrust law, as well as an injunction permanently barring Compass from “bringing or pursuing any claim against any MLS Party alleging that the Cooperation Rules violate the federal antitrust laws or the state antitrust laws.” As in the initial complaint, the MLSs claim they were prompted to file this lawsuit after Compass sent demand letters to MLSs across the country in early September, threatening to sue them if they did not stop fining or penalizing Compass’s agents for publicly marketing office-exc...