Nar Cleared In Sheth Discrimination Case As Judge Issues Final Dismissal

The legal load facing the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) just got a little bit lighter. Judge Georgia Alexakis of U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division granted the trade group’s motion to dismiss the Sheth discrimination lawsuit with prejudice, meaning Sheth will not be able to refile the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was originally filed in June 2024 by Roshani Sheth, a former NAR employee, who alleges that the trade group fired her in retaliation for filing internal complaints that allege discrimination from leadership.

In an emailed statement, a NAR spokesperson wrote that the trade group was “pleased that the Court has correctly dismissed this case in a well-reasoned decision.”

“We cannot comment further on employment litigation matters,” the spokesperson added.

Sheth’s suit stems from her employment as a product manager at NAR, which began in May 2014. Sheth asserts that during her employment she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and national origin, and that discrimination “included but were not limited to sexual harassment, unequal terms and conditions employment and failure to promote.”

According to the lawsuit, Sheth filed an internal complaint at NAR in June 2019 and was terminated the following October. The two parties reached a settlement in December 2019 that included an agreement to keep the settlement confidential and for NAR to give a neutral reference on her employment status with NAR.

But Sheth alleges that NAR breached that agreement by refusing to even acknowledge she was ever employed at NAR, causing loss of income and employment opportunities. 

The majority of the claims made by Sheth against NAR in her original complaint were dismissed in April 2025, but in June she filed an amended complaint. NAR filed its motion to dismiss the amended complaint in July. 

Unlike the first time, Judge Alexakis dismissed NAR from the amended complaint with prejudice, meaning that the plaintiff cannot refile a lawsuit with the same claims against the same defendant. 

In her ruling, Judge Alexakis wrote that she “observed that Sheth had failed to identify an adverse action that was taken by NAR and was causally connected to” the protected activity, leading her to dismiss the lawsuit. The ruling also notes that this is an amended complaint and that Sheth has had multiple chances to “articulate a retaliation theory,” to support her claims, which the judge said contributed to her decision to dismiss the suit with prejudice.