Plaintiffs in lead gen fraud suit against Move forced into arbitration by Brooklee Han for HousingWire

HousingWireHousingWire

The National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) currently has a lot on its plate — from the ongoing debate over its Clear Cooperation Policy, to the current uptick in industry consolidation — but the Bandy fraud lawsuit is no longer its concern. 

Earlier this month, Judge Stanley Blumenfeld dismissed NAR, along with News Corp. and Move subsidiaries Move Sales, Inc., OpCity, Inc., OpCity Acquisition, LLC, RIN, and RealSelect from the suit. 

According to the filing, both News Corp. and NAR were dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, meaning that they did not have enough connections to California, which is where the suit was filed. NAR is incorporated in Illinois and News Corp. is incorporated in Delaware. The Move subsidiaries were dismissed for lack of standing, meaning that plaintiffs did not show in their complaint how these defendants directly caused them harm. 

The parties filed their motions to dismiss the suit in January of 2025. 

While these defendants were dismissed, the judge did not dismiss them with prejudice, meaning that Bandy can refile claims against these defendants if he chooses to. 

Not dismissed from the suit was Move itself, which the court has ordered must arbitrate the plaintiffs claims. According to the ruling, the plaintiffs agreed to arbitrate any potential claims with Move when they signed up for its lead generation service as part of the terms and conditions. The filing notes that similar arbitration agreements were enforced in Silverman v. Move Inc. and Herkenrath v. Move Inc.

Originally filed in August 2024 by James Bandy, along with 12 other real estate professional plaintiffs, the suit, which sought class action status, alleges that Move made misrepresentations regarding the quality of the leads provided to Connections Plus subscribers.

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