Facts

Defendant National Association of Realtors is a trade association of licensed real estate agents that serves as a national umbrella organization for state and local chapters. Its local chapters operate listing services through which people can buy and sell homes. The vast majority of home sales occur on the local "multiple listing service" (MLS). These listings are accessible to any licensed real estate agent who pays a subscription fee. In markets where MLS dominates, around 90 percent of homes in the market will be sold on MLS. National Association of Realtors promulgates rules and policies that all local chapters are required to enforce. These rules control everything from the process for negotiating buyers' agents' commissions to how MLS can share data with consumer-facing websites such as Zillow, Trulia and Redfin. National Association of Realtors adopted a rule to prevent its subscribers from withholding available properties from the listing service: an agent marketing a property in any way must include it on the local listing service so that all other agents can see it. If not, the agent will lose access to the listing service. Another company, Plaintiff Top Agent Network offers a competing listing service but it only made the service available to a small minority of agents―ones the company deems "top agents." These Top Agent Network members are also subscribers to National Association of Realtors' listing services. Top Agent Network wants its members to be able to list properties on its own service or allow its members to discuss properties without also being required to list them on National Association of Realtor's service. It brought suit against them.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTETIONS: Plaintiff contended that Defendant's policy violates Sherman Antitrust Act's prohibition on agreements creating unreasonable restraints of trade. Specifically, the complaint alleged that National Association of Realtors policy constituted an agreement among its member agents not to compete with each other through off-MLS marketing, thereby cutting off Top Agent Network and other private listing services from the supply of agent memberships.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant denied all contentions.

Result

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice because plaintiff failed to allege a proper antitrust injury.