The so-called “pocket listing” lawsuit involving the PLS against three regional listing services has been resolved, although litigation by PLS against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is still pending.
Reuters reported lawyers for PLS reached out-of-court settlements with California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Bright MLS and Midwest Real Estate Data. PLS filed its lawsuit against the three services and NAR in 2020, claiming they tried to thwart its growth. PLS offered a “pocket listing” where real estate agents could market their properties outside of the regional multiple listing services.
In its lawsuit, PLS claimed NAR violated antitrust law by demanding that an agent who wanted to list a home on its platform also include the property on a multiple listing service. PLS’ complaint had been dismissed but was revived in April 2022 by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived it in April 2022. The terms of the settlements were not made public.
PLS was co-founded in 2017 by Mauricio Umansky and has since been rebranded as TheNLS.com. Earlier this week, Umansky unveiled the American Real Estate Association as an alternative to NAR and featured TheNLS.com as one of the benefits for membership.
