Sitzer/Burnett plaintiffs seek MLS data access in NAR settlement

It may be nearly three years since a Missouri jury found the real estate industry liable for colluding to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions in the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit, but challenges related to the lawsuit continue to arise. 

On Wednesday, plaintiffs Don Gibson, Lauren Criss, John Meiners and Daniel Umpa filed motions in the Sitzer/Burnett suit and copycat Gibson lawsuit asking the court to enforce a provision in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement requiring the MLSs that opted into the settlement to allow the plaintiffs to collect their real estate listing and commission data. 

This motion comes after third-party data provider Financial Business Systems (FBS), which supports MLS software platform Flexmls, refused to hand over data. According to the filing, FBS is claiming that it needs explicit permission from each MLS to hand over the data. The plaintiffs claim that FBS will not tell them which specific MLSs are refusing to give FBS the permission to do so. 

Due to this, the plaintiffs are asking the court to approve a new rule, through which the plaintiffs would send a notice to all of the MLSs that opted into the settlement reminding them that they already agreed to share this data by opting into the settlement.

If an MLS would like to object to sharing its data, it has seven days to notify the court of the objection, after which both sides would present arguments to the judge to decide if the MLS must share its data. If an MLS does not object within the seven day window, the lack of response would automatically count as written permission for FBS and other third-party data providers to share the data with the plaintiffs. 

It is unclear when Judge Stephen Bough, who is overseeing both the Sitzer/Burnett and Gibson lawsuits will rule on this motion. 

FBS did not immediately return HousingWire’s request for comment.