Luz de Amor Eitaris took aim at rules requiring “mandatory membership” in local, state and national real estate agent associations to access local multiple listing services.
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The Texas broker is the latest to take aim at the tripartite agreement that has divided opinion in the National Association of Realtors. The tripartite agreement is a regulation that requires real estate agents to belong to a local, state, or national real estate agent association in order to access the multiple listing service.
Luz de Amor Eitaris filed the lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, naming NAR, the Texas Association of Realtors, the Wichita Falls Association of Realtors and Paragon MLS Connect.
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Eitalys argued that the rules requiring agents to participate in all three associations violated antitrust laws and that the defendants had “engaged in monopolistic conduct that unlawfully restrained competition in the real estate market.”
“Brokers must ‘purchase’ memberships in associations that do not need or want MLS services,” Eitaris wrote. “This structure creates an anticompetitive monopoly over MLS services, limits the market’s ability to support alternative trade organizations, and thereby suppresses competition in violation of the Sherman Act.”
Eitaris said the rule amounted to an illegal “tying agreement.”
“This is all a money grab,” she told Inman by phone Tuesday. “We need to focus on serving our clients better.” [and] To achieve the goal we set out to achieve: selling real estate. That’s the bottom line. We are here to sell real estate, not to take classes, pay dues and fees, or fill out more forms. ”
Eitaris, who operates his own brokerage firm, Strategic Realty, in Texas and Oklahoma, said the three-party agreement limits competition and options for agents who want to work for his brokerage but don’t want to become real estate agents. said.
“The only person I can sponsor is a real estate agent, and that’s the problem,” she said. “Anyone who wants to join Strategic Realty has to be a real estate agent. Not every real estate agent wants to be a real estate agent.”
Eitalys filed the complaint professionally, meaning she is now represented. She said she is determined to fight the lawsuit and will continue to pay dues to stay in business while challenging the agreement.
She alleges unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and discriminatory practices, and asks the court to issue $5.8 million in compensatory damages, unspecified compensatory damages, and punitive damages.
Eitalis said he came up with this number because he earns about $1 million a year in fees.
She followed similar lawsuits filed in three other states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, and California) and used them to guide her case.
“I basically had all the other filings that I could copy,” she said. “At this point, I think the more the merrier.”
Representatives from NAR, TAR and WFAR did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new application. Paragon MLS Connect is a technology platform that powers MLSs, such as the Wichita Falls Association of Realtors MLS.
NAR recently expressed support for maintaining its current membership system during CEO Nikia Wright’s speech at NAR NXT earlier this month.
“Some of you may have heard rumors that we will be objecting to the tripartite agreement,” Wright told the board of directors at the meeting. “Well, we’re here to make sure these rumors are put to rest, because we want to make sure that people understand what’s going on at the local level, the state level, the national level; And it’s our duty to make sure that people understand that that’s not actually the case.” It’s cannibalization of services, but they’re actually working together to make things work. ”
Mr. Eitaris asked the court to declare the agreement to be in violation of antitrust laws and asked the court to require the defendants to create an alternative MLS system that does not require access by multiple members. .
“These practices disproportionately impact minority professionals, resulting in unfair rule enforcement and exclusion from fair competition in the real estate industry,” Eitaris wrote.
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