Daily Real Estate News  |  October 4, 2006  |   DOJ Lawsuit Against NAR Moves Ahead
A federal district court in Chicago has “respectfully denied” the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSŪ’ motion to dismiss an antitrust complaint filed last year by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“We’re not surprised by the court’s ruling,” says NAR General Counsel Laurie Janik, who notes that motions to dismiss are rarely granted. “However, we are disappointed. We thought we raised some good arguments.”

In the lawsuit filed against NAR, Justice attorneys claim the association’s policy governing the display of MLS listings on Web sites is unlawfully anticompetitive, hurting companies engaged in Internet-based brokerage activities.

However, in a December court filing, NAR argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed on the grounds that the government sued over provisions in a policy that has since been rescinded, and that the new policy is clearly pro-competitive.

NAR also said the “opt out” provisions in the policy do nothing more than allow individual entities to make independent decisions about whether to authorize the display of their listings on competitors’ Web sites.

Mark Filip, U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois, denied the motion in a court notice filed on Sept. 28. He said a detailed opinion about the court’s decision will be issued on or before Oct. 30, when a status conference is scheduled.

— REALTORŪ Magazine Online