NWMLS submitted its motion to dismiss the lawsuit in early July 2025, declaring that it has “no task to deal” with Compass.
In his judgment earlier this week, Judge Whitehead composed that Compass has plausibly stated its claims for relief in its complaint. He argued in the ruling that Compass plausibly declares that NWMLS’s guidelines harm competitors.
In an emailed declaration, an NWMLS representative wrote that the MLS was dissatisfied in the judge’s ruling.
“Northwest MLS’s long-standing guidelines are entirely consistent with recent legislation adopted in Washington state effective on June 11, 2026, which needs broad marketing of houses to the public and all realty brokers,” the spokesperson composed. “Northwest MLS is positive in its pro-competitive and pro-consumer guidelines and systems and the transparent and thorough marketplace that its members have advanced over the previous 40 years.”
Compass did not want to talk about the judgment.
This comes in spite of NWMLS arguing that Compass has just alleged harm to itself and not harm to competitors.
“While much of the problem does focus on damage to Compass and its brokers specifically, Compass likewise alleges NWMLS’s guidelines prevent home sellers’ representatives from using marketing strategies that benefit homeowners, consequently decreasing the quality of realty brokerage services available to sellers of domestic real property,” the ruling states. “Compass alleges that NWMLS’s guidelines deny homeowners of the ability to pick how to market their homes, quash innovation, and advantage incumbent conventional brokerages at the expense of ingenious rivals.”
Does it increase to perform that avoids ingenious competitors?
Judge Whitehead went on to write that “conduct that avoids brand-new or innovative competitors from entering or contending in a market, leaving consumers with less options and lower-quality items, is the sort of damage the Sherman Act is created to address,” which when used to the allegations made by Compass, reveals that they do not call for termination.
The ruling likewise acknowledges NWMLS’s claims that its guidelines have pro-competitive results, however Judge Whitehead writes that merely because an arrangement has pro-competitive effects is not basis for dismissing the claim, especially when the complainant has actually plausibly alleged harm to competitors.
In Addition, Judge Whitehead likewise composed that Compass has effectively pleaded antitrust injury.
“Compass’s theory of injury is that NWMLS’s guidelines restrict its ability to use ingenious marketing services, which in turn restricts customer option and diminishes the quality of brokerage services offered in the market,” Judge Whitehead composed. “These injuries circulation straight from the conduct Compass declares to be anticompetitive.”
Despite denying the motion to dismiss, Judge Whitehead composed that this ruling should not be “read as expressing any view on the supreme merits of the celebrations’ completing theories.”
Due to the judge’s ruling, discovery in the lawsuit will continue. The trial is currently scheduled to start in early February 2027.