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Zillow has settled a lawsuit filed by a New York City broker who alleged the company’s StreetEasy apartment platform was essentially hiding his rental listings despite charging a daily fee to the agent listing the properties.
George T. Spyridakis moved this week to withdraw the lawsuit he filed in February after the two sides reached a settlement agreement, according to a pair of court filings from Tuesday and Wednesday.
“In order to avoid further delay, uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of continued litigation of the disputed claims, and as a result to of [sic] a mutual desire to settle their disputes, the Parties have reached a full and final settlement agreement,” according to the notice of settlement and motion for dismissal.
The judge overseeing the case approved the dismissal on Wednesday.
StreetEasy declined to comment on the lawsuit and didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment or information about the settlement. The company denied Spyridakis’s claims in court, according to the new court filings.
Spyridakis, an associate broker with eXp, filed his complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, near Zillow’s headquarters.
He claimed he paid $7 daily for each StreetEasy listing, and that he has listed over 250 properties for rent or for sale on StreetEasy, but that listings on occasion have been “masked” from public view.
In New York, multiple brokers can advertise the same unit, but StreetEasy policies appear to seek to prevent that from happening.
“Only one copy of a rental listing is permitted on StreetEasy,” the company’s listings quality policy says. “We will not approve the same unit to be advertised by more than one brokerage, landlord, or owner.”
He had alleged that the damages exceeded $5 million.
Neither he nor his attorney responded to requests for comment when the complaint was filed nor after the case was settled and withdrawn. The lawsuit was withdrawn with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again.
