Zillow’s Chicago Antitrust Fight Heads to Arbitration

The ruling sends Zillow’s claims against Midwest Real Estate Data LLC, or MRED, to arbitration and puts related litigation against brokerage Compass on hold, according to a Bloomberg report.

The decision does not resolve Zillow’s underlying antitrust allegations. Instead, it changes the venue in which a significant part of the dispute will proceed and denies Zillow the preliminary court order it had sought while the case was pending.

At issue is a disagreement over how residential properties are marketed and distributed across real estate platforms. Zillow has pushed for listings that are publicly marketed to be broadly accessible to consumers, while Compass has backed approaches that can give properties limited exposure through private channels before they reach the wider market.

The conflict escalated earlier this year when MRED interrupted the listing-data feed it provides to Zillow, affecting the availability of Chicago-area properties on Zillow and Trulia. Zillow subsequently sued MRED and Compass, alleging anticompetitive conduct, according to Bloomberg’s account of the case.

A judge initially required MRED to restore the data feed temporarily while the legal dispute developed. Zillow later sought a preliminary injunction that would provide longer-lasting protection during the litigation.

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Source: Zillow, Redfin Settle FTC Antitrust Case Over Rental Listings Deal

That request has now been rejected. The judge concluded that Zillow’s dispute with MRED should proceed through arbitration, according to Bloomberg. The company’s case involving Compass will remain paused while that process moves forward.

Zillow has argued that limits on the distribution of listings can reduce the information available to home buyers and sellers. MRED and Compass have contested Zillow’s allegations and the characterization of their conduct as anticompetitive.

The case is unfolding amid a wider industry debate over control of residential property information. Multiple listing services traditionally serve as central repositories through which brokers share properties, while large consumer platforms depend on those feeds to populate websites and applications used by prospective buyers.

Private listing networks have complicated that model. Supporters say they can give sellers greater control over how and when a home reaches the market. Critics contend that limiting distribution can fragment the marketplace and reduce transparency for consumers.

Those competing approaches have increased the commercial importance of rules determining which properties appear on major real estate websites — and under what conditions.

For Zillow, the latest ruling means its allegations against MRED will continue without the preliminary federal-court relief the company sought. The merits of the broader antitrust dispute remain unresolved.

Source: Bloomberg