Worry When Lawsuits Stop

A brief (?) observation and hypothesis

HousingWire reports on what has to be one of the silliest lawsuits ever filed: Muhammad v. NAR. The claim appears to be that forced membership is somehow race discrimination:

“These practices disproportionately affect minority professionals and have resulted in inequitable enforcement of rules and exclusion from fair competition in the real estate industry,” the complaint states.

Muhammad claims that the three defendants have “engaged in a pattern of discriminatory practices against minority real estate professionals.” These practices have allegedly included “selective enforcement of professional rules, inequitable application of disciplinary measures, and the exclusion of minority professionals from leadership positions.”

NAR can be accused of a lot of things, but race discrimination is not one of them.

The earlier lawsuit from Michigan brokerages is also silly, since the claim appears to be something like settling with plaintiffs is bad:

The plaintiffs’ complaint says that these claims are predicated in part on NAR’s nationwide commission lawsuit settlement agreement, which bans offers of buyer broker compensation from the MLS, which the plaintiffs claim “essentially invites brokers and agents to participate in deceptive compensation practices,” and “encourage discrimination among sellers and sellers’ agents, which will negatively affect consumers, agents and brokers.” 

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs believe the “wrongful acts of the defendants” have caused them to lose earning potential, and have been an overall detriment to their business. Additionally, they claim that the “compulsory nature of membership in the defendants’ organizations in order to access the MLS is a violation of their ability to conduct business in a fair and unencumbered manned which has resulted and will continue to result in them incurring damages.” 

I thought about reading those complaints in depth and really understanding the claims, but… nah. The lawsuits are silly and should be dismissed with extreme prejudice.

So why talk about them at all?

Because while these two lawsuits are silly, they (and comments responding to them) point to something brewing. What’s more, the real problem isn’t that these lawsuits get filed; the real problem is that these lawsuits cease to get filed.

Let’s get into it.