| At Hearing on Zillow Ban
CEO Wacksman Is Grilled on Call
with Kelman of Partner Redfin
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Nov 19 – 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.
On
November 19 Inner City Press
covered the hearing on Bluesky
and Threads (its main X is
still hacked without Support),
as now Zillow's CEO Jeremy
Wacksman was asked his call
with Glenn Kelman, the CEO of
Redfin which Wacksman
described as a partner. Much
could hinge on this. Inner
City Press is covering the
case.
More on Substack
here
It is Compass,
Inc. v. Zillow, Inc., et al.,
1:25-cv-5201 (Vargas)
More
(Nov 18) on
Substack here
More (Nov 17) on
Substack here
***
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