Plaintiffs in the Gibson home seller commission lawsuit have received court authorization to notify all Multiple Listing Services (MLS) that opted into the National Association of Realtors settlement of their data-sharing responsibilities. This follows a dispute with a data provider over access to listing and commission data.
This ruling clarifies the data access rights within the NAR settlement, potentially impacting how future real estate commission lawsuits are investigated and resolved by providing plaintiffs with crucial data to enforce settlement terms.
Plaintiffs in the Gibson home seller commission lawsuit have received authorization from Judge Stephen Bough to notify all Multiple Listing Services (MLS) that opted into the National Association of Realtors’ settlement of their data-sharing obligations. This development stems from a dispute where the third-party data provider, Financial Business Systems (FBS), which supports the Flexmls platform, refused to release real estate listing and commission data without explicit permission from each MLS.
In late July, the plaintiffs filed a motion requesting the court to enforce the settlement provision requiring data access. FBS claimed it needed individual MLS consent, and the plaintiffs stated FBS would not identify which MLSs were refusing permission. Judge Bough’s approval allows the plaintiffs to send a notice to the MLSs, reminding them that their participation in the settlement constitutes agreement to share this data.
MLSs that wish to object to sharing their data have a seven-day window to notify the court. Following an objection, both parties will present arguments to the judge. If an MLS does not object within this period, its silence will be considered written permission for FBS and other data providers to release the information. For any MLS that does object, the court will individually resolve the dispute regarding data enforcement.