Court denies majority of Missouri Real Estate Commission's Motion to Dismiss KCPA's complaint

After the defendants filed their motion to dismiss over the summer, it's been pretty quiet in Kansas City Premier Apartments v. Missouri Real Estate Commission, et al. [In a nutshell, KCPA filed suit earlier this year in a Missouri state court, seeking a declaration that MREC cannot require KCPA - which operates a website that displays apartments available for rent - to obtain a real estate license. For more details, check out my original, first follow-up and second follow-up posts.] Not any more.

Yesterday Judge Hull denied, in part, the defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint. While the court did dismiss Count II (alleging due process violations), and the individual MREC commissioners and executive director (as parties), the remaining claims survived (alleged violations of applicable statutory exemptions, free speech, equal protection, and procedural failings), and MREC remains as a defendant.

This case is far from over.

Court denies motion for arbitration in Home Quarters litigation

It has been several months since I last wrote about the Home Quarters v. Realcomp action pending in Michigan.

Last month, Magistrate Judge Whalen denied defendant MIRealSource's motion to compel arbitration and stay the litigation. The court relied in part on Judge Bucklo's recent decision in the Hackman suit pending in Illinois, stating that "[f]or virtually identical reasons, present Plaintiff's antitrust claims fall outside the 'disputes' contemplated by NAR's Manual, which, as in Hackman, was incorporated in its entirety into the arbitration agreement." (emphasis in original).

Accordingly we can expect this case to proceed in federal court, with the record available to the public for review.