Baird & Warner has become one of the latest realty brokerages targeted by a class action lawsuit accusing them of allegedly wrongly using their control over access to the MLS to force home sellers to pay home buyers agents, allegedly in violation of the law.
The lawsuit is one of many such actions leveling similar accusations, which are pending against real estate brokers and agencies, as well as the National Association of Realtors. Only Baird & Warner is named as a defendant in the new lawsuit.
The new lawsuit was filed Feb. 22 in Cook County Circuit Court by named plaintiffs Mary Maslanka and David Freifeld, identified as Illinois residents who bought and sold houses in the Chicago area using a Baird & Warner agent.
They are represented by attorneys Evan Meyers, Paul T. Geske and Brendan Duffner, of McGuire Law P.C., of Chicago.
The plaintiffs are seeking to expand the action to include potentially tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of other people who bought or sold property in Illinois since December 1996.
The lawsuit alleges that Baird & Warner, along with its co-conspirators who are members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), have adopted practices that keep real estate broker commissions artificially high. This results in both homebuyers and home sellers bearing thousands of dollars in additional costs when buying or selling a property.
The MLS is essentially a database that serves as a marketplace for available properties. The plaintiffs argue that membership in an MLS is essential for brokers to effectively market and sell properties, as it provides the most up-to-date, accurate, and comprehensive compilation of area’s home listings.
The plaintiffs accuse Baird & Warner of violating Illinois' state antitrust law and its consumer fraud law.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to order Baird & Warner to pay three times the plaintiffs' actual damages, plus other damages and attorney fees.