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US: NY brokers file class-action suit against Zillow

By  |  December 19, 2019

Trulia was slapped with a federal lawsuit assailing its Premier Agent advertising program as “unfair” and “deceptive,” and accusing it of diverting home buyers away from listing agents.

According to the suit, which seeks class-action status, the Zillow Group subsidiary connects buyers with agents who “have no actual connection to the property being advertised, other than having paid defendant to be presented prominently next to the property.”

The lawsuit, filed November 28 in Eastern District Court, compares Premier Agent to a broker who purchases a billboard to advertise a listing already held by a competitor.

The suit says neither Trulia nor its parent Zillow Group requires Premier Agents to obtain consent from the listing agent or firm to advertise alongside their listing. “Defendant’s practices make it less likely that a prospective homebuyer is able to successfully contact the listing agent instead of the Premier Agents,” the suit said.

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