Plaintiffs


Zillow
Group
and
ShowingTime
have
reached
a
settlement
agreement
with
defendants

Arizona
Regional
MLS (ARMLS)
and

Wisconsin-based Metro
MLS
in
Zillow’s
antitrust
suit
against
the
multiple
listing
services.

The
court
was
notified
of
the
settlement
in
a
filing
on
Thursday,
but
the
final
terms
of
the
settlement
agreement
have
yet
to
be
announced.

Despite
having
not
yet
finalized
the
terms
of
the
settlement,
the
parties
specified
in
their
notice
that
the
final
execution
of
the
agreement
“will
result
in
the
dismissal
of
the
claims
against”
the
defendants.

“The
parties
do
not
expect
the
remaining
issues
to
be
an
obstacle
to
completing
and
executing
that
detailed
agreement,”
the
filing
noted.

The
lawsuit,
which
was
originally
filed
in
late
2023,
alleges
that
ARMLS,
Metro
MLS
and

MLS
Aligned,
the
parent
company
of
showing
platform Aligned
Showings,
were “unlawfully
attempting
to
monopolize
the
market
for
real
estate
showing
management
services
in
the
geographic
regions
they
control
and
from
unlawfully
conspiring
to
exclude
or
severely
limit
ShowingTime,
their
competitor
in
those
markets.”

According
to
the
initial
complaint,
in
late
2023, the
MLS
defendants made
the
decision
to
only
offer
Aligned
Showings
to
their
members
instead
of
including
ShowingTime,
which
had
been
offered
through
the
MLS
defendants
“for
years.”
MLS
Aligned
is
a
joint
venture
set
up
among
the
MLS
defendants
and
other
unspecified
MLSs.

In

mid-February
2024,
the
MLS
defendants
filed
a
motion
to
dismiss
the
suit
with
prejudice.
In
the
motion,
the
defendants
claimed
that
Zillow’s
and
ShowingTime’s
“true
grievance
is
not
that
the
MLS
Defendants
are
engaging
in
anticompetitive
practices,
but
that ShowingTime
—
the
dominant
provider
of
showing
management
services
nationally
—
is
(ironically)
now
facing
competition
in
a
few
regions.”

According
to
the
motion,
the
complaint
falsely
interpreted
antitrust
law
by
alleging
that
the
plaintiffs
view
competition
as
a
“mortal
threat”
and
not
a
“cornerstone
of
American
capitalism.”

Due
to
the
news
of
the
settlement
agreement,
Judge
Michael
T.
Liburdi,
who
is
overseeing
the
suit,
agreed
to
stay
all
deadlines
until
July
19,
2024,
by
which
time
the
parties
must
file
their
joint
stipulations
to
dismiss.
The
court
order
states
that
in
the
event
that
“the
parties’
settlement
agreements
are
not
finalized
by
that
time,
they
shall
file
a
joint
status
report
informing
the
Court
of
their
settlement
closure
efforts.”

Zillow
Group

bought
ShowingTime
in
2021.

None
of
the
parties
involved
in
the
suit
responded
to
a
request
for
comment.

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