Extra: As Hearing on Zillow Ban Looms Compass CEO Seeks Documents As Redfin Seeks to Seal - more here
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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 17 – The real estate listing giant Zillow faces a hearing this week in which Compass seeks a preliminary injunction against a policy Zillow says is for transparency.
A Zillow spokesperson said, “While Americans are struggling to access and afford housing, Compass wants to hide available listings from the public. Real estate works when it’s fair, equal, open and transparent, so Zillow is defending that transparency — and we’re not backing down.”
The irony is that nearly every filing in the case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which Inner City Press closely covers, is sealed.
Days before the PI hearing sent for November 18-21 before Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, Zillow’s outside counsel at Wilson Sonsini wrote in that documents should not be shown, as plaintiff’s counsel at Crowell & Moring request, to Compass’ CEO and CLO, saying that “there is plainly no First Amendment right to access... unless and until the documents are used in judicial decision making.”
Redfin, which has a policy similar to Zillow’s, is in the case, represented by Davis Wright Tremaine.
In a November 17 conference they pushed to keep documents sealed and it emerged that half an hour at the end of each hearing day will be sealed, with some presumptively judicial documents being emailed to Chambers, not even docketed. Inner City Press is following the case.
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