A Washington state real estate agent has filed a lawsuit against Zillow, adding to the growing number of cases accusing the company of pressuring agents to steer clients into its mortgage lending services.
Stephanie Dupuis, who owns a real estate team in Kitsap County, filed the complaint on Jan. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The lawsuit alleges that Zillow’s practices violate both state and federal antitrust laws, and seeks class status for all U.S. residents “who are or who were enrolled in Zillow Group’s Premier, Preferred, or Flex Agent programs.”
‘Impossible to do business’ without Zillow: Dupuis alleges that because of Zillow’s “monopoly power,” real estate agents find it “impossible to do business without working with Zillow to at least some degree.” As a result, she and her team felt compelled to work with the company and entered an agreement to become a Preferred Agent — what Zillow describes as “the next evolution of the Flex program,” its invitation-only referral program for agents…