Compass Seeks To Dismiss Tcpa Lawsuit Over Agent Calls

Compass is seeking to dismiss a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuit filed against it last June by plaintiff Jessica Murch.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., the lawsuit claims that Murch received at least four calls beginning in August 2024 from Rachel Olson, a Compass agent, asking if she was interested in selling her home, despite Murch’s phone number being registered with the Do Not Call Registry for more than 31 days prior to Olson’s first alleged call. Additionally, Murch says she does not own the property in question and never requested any brokerage services from Compass. 

Despite requesting Olson and Compass no longer call her, Murch claims she received several more calls over the next year, including calls in early June 2025 from another Compass agent Ansel Sanger, who was seeking to sell the same property Olson reached out about. During this call, Murch said she reiterated her request that the brokerage no longer call her. 

In its motion to dismiss filed on Friday, Compass claims that Murch’s complaint, which is seeking class action status, fails to “establish that Compass is liable for the alleged phone calls to Plaintiff.” According to the filing, it was “improper” to include Compass as defendants in the lawsuit and that Murch is seeking to “hold Compass vicariously liable for the alleged conduct of agents Olson and Sanger, who are independent contractors.”

The brokerage goes on to claim that its policies, which Murch included in her complaint, show that Compass does not condone communication like that alleged in the complaint and “explicitly prohibits” that type of communication. 

“Exercising basic brand-protection measures and quality control is fundamentally different from control over the day-to-day manner and means of an independent contractor’s telephone calls to potential prospects,” the motion states. “Because Plaintiff cannot plead a viable theory of vicarious liability as a matter of law, the Court should grant Compass’s Motion to Dismiss and dismiss Plaintiff’s claims against Compass with prejudice.” 

The brokerage also asserts that it is “confident” that Murch’s allegations against Olson and Sanger are “baseless and will ultimately be dismissed.”

The brokerage has requested oral arguments regarding its motion to dismiss. 

A similar lawsuit also filed last June against Keller Williams, as voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff last July.