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Four months after seven Realtors filed a class-action lawsuit against Realtor.com’s parent company Move for allegedly selling uninspected and fake leads, the defendants have appealed the case to federal courts.
In an eight-page statement of removal filed Tuesday, Move’s attorney said they removed the case from Los Angeles County Superior Court to the US District Court for the Central District of California, due to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) of 2005. ). CFAA states that federal courts have jurisdiction over a class action lawsuit when three criteria are met: the plaintiffs are citizens of a different state than the defendant, there are at least 100 members in the tort class, and there is a disputed amount. over $5 million.
“Six of the seven plaintiffs live outside of California and Delaware and are not citizens of California or Delaware. “Only one plaintiff is a resident of California and the intended class of plaintiffs includes real estate agents throughout the United States,” the filing said in the first degree of diversity.
“As plaintiffs assert, Move, Inc., and Move Sales, Inc., are residents of both Delaware and California … provided that the corporation is a resident of any State in which it is incorporated and of the State in which it has its principal place of business.” ‘”
Regarding the punitive phase and the alleged damages, counsel for Move said that the case overlaps both as it affects any real estate agent who has used Move’s lead production services within the past four years. Because of the large punitive clause, the amount in dispute is calculated to exceed $5 million, taking into account damages, punitive damages, restitution, attorneys’ fees and injunctive relief.
“Without conceding any merits to plaintiffs’ allegations, causes of action, and claims for damages, restitution, and attorneys’ fees, the amount at issue in plaintiffs’ complaint satisfies the CFAA threshold,” court documents said regarding the amount. – argument requirement.
Move’s lawyer said filing the case in the US District Court for the Central District of California meets the standards of CFAA, as the Los Angeles County Superior Court is within the Central District of California. The lawsuit said the other defendants — the parent company of Move News Corp., the National Association of Realtors and Opcity — also agree to the plea.
“None of Move’s lawyers have appeared or filed any pleadings or other documents in response to the appeal in the High Court,” the court document reads. “Move shall promptly give written notice of the filing of this Notice of Removal to Plaintiffs and shall promptly send written notice, together with a copy of this Notice of Removal, to the Clerk of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County and serve on all parties.”
In accordance with Bloomberg Law, A Notice of Removal is all that is required to move the case to the state dockets. However, the plaintiff’s attorney can file a motion to have the case returned to state court. The federal court can also choose to deny the Notice of Removal and remand the case to state court.
Move declined to comment on the removal request, noting that they “have no further comment regarding the ongoing litigation at this time.”
Meanwhile, the plaintiff’s attorney has not responded to Inman’s request for comment.
The Notice of Removal of the Move is the first significant update to the class action lawsuit, which was filed in August.
Seven Realtors from California, Nevada, Washington, Florida, Georgia and New York have filed a class action lawsuit against Move alleging the sale of unverified and fraudulent leads through Move Network sites, including Realtor.com, ListHub and UpNest. NAR, News Corp, and leading real estate technology platform Opcity have been named as defendants for their roles in a scheme that allegedly sold fake buyers.
The lawsuit said Move spends data on owned, controlled, operated and related websites, web properties, digital portals and social media to collect information about users who search for general terms of the area (eg, real estate, property, house, mortgage) or appear to be in the market for another major purchase. , which are not real estate, such as cars. These users are then featured as fully vetted, high-intent leads in Realtor.com’s suite of leading buyer and seller solutions, including Connections Plus, ReadyConnect Concierge (formerly Opcity), Market VIP and ListHub.
Aside from the alleged sale of non-targeted leads, the lawsuit also says that some leads cannot be verified as “a real, live person.” The lawsuit alleges that 40 to 50 percent of Realtor.com leads either have no intention of buying real estate or cannot be verified as real. In addition, they say, Realtor.com sells the same group of leads (minimum 36-40 per month) to multiple agents – breaking the promise of lead exclusivity.
The plaintiffs said they notified Realtor.com about the problems with the low-quality leads and asked for a refund. However, Realtor.com’s sales team may reject refund requests, offer credits that can be used to purchase more leads, or referred agents to purchase premium tier subscriptions for better lead quality. The plaintiffs allege that executives, managing agents, managers, directors and officers at News Corp, Move, Realtor.com and NAR were aware of the complaints and “willfully and deliberately” ignored the alleged sales by unvetted and fraudulent buyers and sellers.
In a previous statement, an NAR spokesperson noted that its counsel “will challenge these false allegations in court.”
Email Marian McPherson
