An anti-trust lawsuit brought by a real estate broker against the Northern Kentucky Association of Realtors was dismissed.

In a decision that "reaffirms the integrity of the country's Realtor®-owned and operated multiple listing services," gloats the NKMLS, "the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky dismissed an antitrust lawsuit brought by a real estate brokerage in northern Kentucky against the Northern Kentucky Association of Realtors® and its subsidiary, the Northern Kentucky Multiple Listing Service."

The brokerage, Buyer's Corner Realty Inc. in Florence, Ky., and the firm's principal broker, Sherry Edwards -- who served as plaintiffs in the case -- claimed NKAR's rule requiring membership in a local Realtor® association to access services of the MLS constitutes an unlawful tying arrangement and a group boycott that violates the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.

In its ruling, said the NAR, Judge William O. Bertelsman said the plaintiffs lack standing to bring an antitrust tying claim against the association because the harm the brokerage received -- being forced to purchase membership in the Realtor® association to gain access to the local MLS -- doesn't rise to the level of antitrust injury. "Plaintiffs fail to explain how they have been harmed by any restrained competition in the tied product market," the judge said.

The plaintiffs also failed to show foreclosure in the market for the tied product, because the brokerage failed to show that other associations compete in the same product market as the Realtor® association. The plaintiffs also failed to show the membership rule constituted an unlawful group boycott, because belonging to a Realtor® association does not have an anticompetitive effect in the market for real estate association services, said the NAR.

David Barry, longtime legal foe of the National Association of Realtors and its subsidiaries, was counsel for the plaintiff.

The ruling echoed a similar conclusion in Wisconsin that took place August 25, 2005. when a Federal court rules that it is "not anti-competitive to limit membership in a multiple listing service to Realtors® reaffirms the integrity of the nation's Realtor® -owned and operated multiple listing services," said the president of the National Association of Realtors® Al Mansell at the time.

Federal District Judge John C. Shabaz dismissed a lawsuit brought by a real estate broker in south central Wisconsin against the South Central Wisconsin MLS Corp. and the Realtor® Association of South Central Wisconsin. The broker, Jay Reifert, also a buyer's broker, wanted to remain a member of the MLS but wished to terminate his membership in the local association.

Explains the NAR, Judge Shabaz found that the plaintiff had failed to offer evidence that any organizations compete with Realtor® organizations and are damaged by the purported tie between participation in the MLS and being a Realtor®. In his ruling, he rejected the plaintiffs claim that the membership requirement is an illegal "group boycott," noting that "plaintiff has not demonstrated that he or any other real estate professional was denied access to the MLS. His evidence in support of anti-competitive effect consists of referencing arguments made in support of the tying claim which have previously been rejected as establishing an anti-competitive effect."

The NAR has just asked the Federal District Court in Chicago to dismiss the Department of Justice's suit against the trade organization for alleged anti-trust activities.

Editor's note: Realty Times wishes to apologize for a previous version of this article which erroneously stated that the Department of Justice lawsuit against the NAR had been dismissed. The DOJ plans to answer the motion to dismiss in February, according to Gina Talamona, spokesperson for the DOJ.)