The Council of Multiple Listing Services is setting up a legal action fund topping $1 million. The trade group says the money will support legal matters with significance for the wider MLS industry as lawsuits multiply.
The Council of Multiple Listing Services is proposing a legal fund of more than $1 million to help MLSs push back against legal threats. The move comes less than a month after Compass CEO Robert Reffkin escalated demands that MLSs allow off-MLS marketing of listings.
At the CMLS Open House conference, MLS legal experts urged executives to plan for multiple scenarios around cooperation, participation and data access as demand letters and lawsuits pile up.
Speakers at CMLS said listing data will be monetized one way or another, so the real issue is governance and protecting brokers' rights to their data, especially as AI companies seek access.
Zillow's Errol Samuelson told CMLS attendees that weakening the MLS could invite government regulation, pointing to congressional scrutiny of Compass and MRED and warning that restricting listing data carries risks.
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