Editor’s note: The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate.

Judge sets discovery schedule in Zillow v. MRED as parties clash over arbitration

The high-stakes Chicago-based legal battle between Zillow, Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) and Compass moved forward in a phone conference hearing focused on discovery dispute and the case schedule. 
Judge John Tharp, who ordered MRED to continue feeding listing data to Zillow while the case proceeds, agreed to an expedited discovery process with depositions to be completed by June 12 and a preliminary injunction hearing on July 1-2.

Judge Tharp said that one custodian—a legal designation for a person who has control or responsibility for documents that will be evidence in the case—was enough per party after counsel for Compass and MRED offered up the two company’s CEOs as custodians for the discovery phase.

CoStar’s Matterport calls on Zillow to lift its ban on Matterport tours
In a blog post published May 27, CoStar Group details its latest move to pressure Zillow into reinstating Matterport virtual tours, which Zillow removed from its platform in October 2025, citing ambiguous licensing terms it says create legal risk for the company and its partners. 

Matterport Interim President Rob Hines published a signed public “contract” explicitly promising that CoStar Group will not sue Zillow for displaying customer-created tours, and asserting that Matterport customers own their tours and may post them anywhere they choose. 

Zillow continues to accept tours from other third-party vendors and promotes its own competing Zillow 3D Home product, saying it will notify partners directly if Matterport tours are ever reinstated.

Court grants preliminary approval of buyer settlements

On May 26, U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins approved opt-in agreements in the case Tuccori v. At World Properties, moving forward with a resolution for sprawling commission-related class-action claims by recent homebuyers, who accused the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and major brokerage firms of price-fixing.

The settlement includes opt-in agreements from prominent real estate companies, including: HomeSmart International; Fathom Realty; eXp World Holdings; Compass; Anywhere Real Estate; Realty ONE Group; Douglas Elliman; HomeServices of America and NAR.

The settlement addresses claims from homebuyers and homesellers who purchased residential real estate listed on MLSs between specified class periods. The litigation centers on antitrust allegations regarding commission-setting practices and MLS rules.

According to Judge Jenkins’ order, the opt-in settlements will compensate homebuyers “at almost the same rate as the claims previously resolved by” the seller settlements, including the landmark Burnett case.

 

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