Judge Denies Nwmls Bid To Dismiss Compass Antitrust Suit

Compass’s antitrust lawsuit against Northwest MLS (NWMLS) is that much closer to heading to court. 

On Thursday, Judge Jamal Whitehead of U.S. District Court in Seattle denied NWMLS’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit for failure to state a claim.

Originally filed in late April 2025, the lawsuit centers around NWMLS’s listing policy. As a non-Realtor-association affiliated MLS, NWMLS does not have to adhere to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) MLS policies. As a result of this, NWMLS’ listing policy does not have the same office exclusive carve-out that NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) has. In the complaint, Compass claims that NWMLS “is a monopolist and a combination of competing real estate brokers.”

NWMLS filed its motion to dismiss the lawsuit in early July 2025, claiming that it has “no duty to deal” with Compass. 

In his ruling earlier this week, Judge Whitehead wrote that Compass has plausibly stated its claims for relief in its complaint. He argued in the ruling that Compass plausibly alleges that NWMLS’s rules harm competition. 

In an emailed statement, an NWMLS spokesperson wrote that the MLS was disappointed in the judge’s ruling. 

“Northwest MLS’s long-standing rules are entirely consistent with recent legislation adopted in Washington state effective on June 11, 2026, which requires broad marketing of residential properties to the general public and all real estate brokers,” the spokesperson wrote. “Northwest MLS is confident in its pro-competitive and pro-consumer rules and systems and the transparent and comprehensive marketplace that its members have advanced over the past 40 years.” 

Compass did not wish to comment on the ruling.

This comes despite NWMLS arguing that Compass has only alleged harm to itself and not harm to competition. 

“While much of the complaint does focus on harm to Compass and its brokers specifically, Compass also alleges NWMLS’s rules prevent home sellers’ agents from using marketing strategies that benefit homeowners, thereby decreasing the quality of real estate brokerage services available to sellers of residential real property,” the ruling states. “Compass alleges that NWMLS’s rules deprive homeowners of the ability to choose how to market their properties, quash innovation, and benefit incumbent traditional brokerages at the expense of innovative competitors.”

Does it rise to conduct that prevents innovative competitors?

Judge Whitehead went on to write that “conduct that prevents new or innovative competitors from entering or competing in a market, leaving consumers with fewer choices and lower-quality products, is the kind of harm the Sherman Act is designed to address,” which when applied to the allegations made by Compass, shows that they do not warrant dismissal. 

The ruling also acknowledges NWMLS’s claims that its rules have pro-competitive effects, but Judge Whitehead writes that simply because an agreement has pro-competitive effects is not basis for dismissing the lawsuit, especially when the plaintiff has plausibly alleged harm to competition. 

Additionally, Judge Whitehead also wrote that Compass has adequately pleaded antitrust injury.

“Compass’s theory of injury is that NWMLS’s rules restrict its ability to offer innovative marketing services, which in turn restricts consumer choice and diminishes the quality of brokerage services available in the market,” Judge Whitehead wrote. “These injuries flow directly from the conduct Compass alleges to be anticompetitive.”

Despite denying the motion to dismiss, Judge Whitehead wrote that this ruling should not be “read as expressing any view on the ultimate merits of the parties’ competing theories.”

Due to the judge’s ruling, discovery in the lawsuit will continue. The trial is currently scheduled to begin in early February 2027.