CRMLS Seeks Declaratory Judgment, Files Complaint Against Compass, Inc.
Compass gave CRMLS until 5 PM Eastern on October 6 to stop fining agents for publicly marketing office exclusives, or get sued. CRMLS filed a day early. As the plaintiff. In Manhattan, Compass’s backyard.
It’s a declaratory judgment action. CRMLS is asking a federal judge to rule that its cooperation rules are legal under the Sherman Act and California’s Cartwright Act, and to bar Compass from bringing the case Reffkin promised from the CMLS stage last week. The complaint even counts the crowd: “a packed room of over 900 attendees.”
The press release (see below for link) is all defense fund. The good stuff is buried in paragraph 59 in the complaint (link also below):
“In 2025, CRMLS issued 89 fines for violation of Rule 7.9, with only 8 of those going to a Compass agent. For context, CRMLS had over 271,000 listings enter the system in 2025.“
Eight. Compass’s own demand letter says the fine tops out at $2,500. So Compass promised to “spend millions of dollars” over roughly twenty grand 🤔. (The 2026 count is higher, about 75 Compass cases out of 300, with reports climbing “since the spring.” Funny how that lines up with the office exclusive push.) Bottom line, the fines are the excuse. The rule is the target.
The exhibits are where it gets fun. In November 2024, Reffkin wrote the CRMLS board asking for a status with no days on market and no price history, and said his ideas “support the concept of mandatory submission to the MLS, but not mandatory marketing through the MLS.” CRMLS built its Limited Exposure Coming Soon status this summer. A couple of months later, the demand letter showed up. Talk about moving goalposts.
Then there’s my favorite paragraph. CRMLS quotes Anywhere’s 2024 10-K warning that changes to cooperation rules “could, among other things, reduce the availability of broadly listed properties, leading to more unlisted inventory.” Anywhere is now owned by Compass. Hard to argue with yourself.
The venue is smart too. The same Southern District of New York denied Compass’s injunction against Zillow in February, saying these practices could “encourage freeriding; fragment the real estate market; and limit transparency.” Compass dropped that case. CRMLS quotes it three times.
I’ve said the real question for every MLS is whether it’s a broker cooperative or a listing platform. CRMLS just answered in federal court, and paid to go first. Every MLS that got a letter now has two options: sign Compass’s release this week, or wait and see what a judge in Manhattan says about the rule.
I’d wait.
Press Release: CRMLS Seeks Declaratory Judgment, Files Complaint Against Compass, Inc.
Complaint: 2026-10-05_Complaint with Exhibits
Art and CRMLS don’t make a ton of noise, but when they do, it matters. Like you said in your previous post, “Don’t always listen to the loudest voice in the room.”