Kirkland,
Washington-based

Northwest
MLS
(NWMLS)
is
looking
to
have
its
voice
heard
in
a
lawsuit
all
the
way
on
the
other
side
of
the
country.

On
Wednesday,
NWMLS
filed
a
motion
asking
Boston-based
U.S.
District
Court
Judge
Patti
B.
Saris,
who
is
overseeing
the
Nosalek

commission
lawsuit,
if
it
could
file
an
amicus
curiae
brief
in
response
to
the


Department
of
Justice’s

statement
of
interest.

Saris
would
have
to
reopen
the
lawsuit
in
order
for
NWMLS
to
file
its
brief.
The
judge
stayed
the
case
pending
action
by
a
multidistrict
litigation
panel,
which
is
set
to
decide
this
spring
if
nine
of
the commission
lawsuits can
consolidate.

The
DOJ’s
statement
of
interest,
which
was
filed
in
mid-February,
was
in
relation
to
the settlement
agreement reached
between
the
Nosalek
plaintiffs
and
MLS
Property
Information
Network
(MLS
PIN) in
July
2023.

In
its
statement
of
interest,
the
DOJ
advocated
for
the
prohibition
of
cooperative
compensation,
meaning
that
“sellers
would
be
responsible
for
determining
only
the
compensation
of
their
own
broker
in
the
listing
contract
…
[and]
buyers
would
be
responsible
for
determining
the
compensation
of
their
own
broker
in
a
buyer-broker
representation
contract.”

The
DOJ
argued
that changes similar
to
those
proposed
in
the settlement
agreement —
including
the
lowering
of
the
required
compensation
amount
to
$0,
or abandoning
the
requirement for
listing
brokers
to
make
a
blanket
offer
of
compensation
to
the
buyer’s
broker
in
order
to
list
on
the
MLS,
which
was
a
change
NWMLS
made
in
2019
—
have
done
nothing
to
decrease
agent
commissions.

In
the
draft
of
the
proposed
brief
submitted
to
the
court,
NWMLS
claims
that
the
DOJ’s
“ill-informed,
ill-supported
critique“
of
its
rules
“obscures,
or
misses
altogether,
the
purpose
and
impact
of
NWMLS’s
changes.“
NWMLS
counters
that
these
rule
changes
increased
transparency
and
removed
the
potential
for
steering.

“The
change
enabled
greater
flexibility
and
choice
for
sellers
when
listing
a
property
and
gave
buyers
and
buyers’
brokers
a
vehicle
for
negotiating
for
compensation
when
making
an
offer
to
purchase,“
NWMLS
wrote
in
the
filing.

The
MLS
added
that
in
the
DOJ’s
argument
about
steering,
it
did
not
acknowledge
that
the
rule
changes
also
made
information
about
sellers’
offers
of
compensation
available
to
other
consumers.

NWMLS
also
noted
in
the
motion
that
in
its
November
2020
settlement
agreement
with
the

National
Association
of
Realtors,
the
DOJ
asked
for
the
types
of
changes
made
by
NWMLS.

“DOJ’s
apparent
change
of
heart
in
its
[statement
of
interest]
in
this
case
is
striking,“
NWMLS
wrote
in
the
draft
of
its
brief.

The
MLS
also
notes
that
the
system
of
compensation
the
DOJ
outlines
in
its
statement
of
interest,
which
it
feels
prohibits
sellers
from
making
offers
of
compensation
to
buyer
brokers,
removes
transparency
and
“invites
brokers
to
make
deals
in
secret,
creating
opportunities
for
deceptive
practices,
discrimination
and
unfair
housing.“

MLS
PIN
and
the
plaintiffs
in
the
Nosalek
lawsuit
have
also

asked
Saris
if
they
can
file
separate
responses
to
the
DOJ’s
statement
of
interest.
The
parties
have
until
March
28

to
file
their
responses.

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