Share
Below are summaries of the case funding recommendations made by NAR's Legal Action Committee, which were subsequently approved by the Board of Directors at the 2017 REALTORS® Conference & Expo, held in Chicago, IL during November 2017.
NAR has renewed its Professional Liability Insurance policy with Chubb and its NPE Insurance policy with RPX Insurance Services for 2018.
NAR provided funding of $336,666 in three cases as follows:
a. State of Washington v. United States of America
The Washington Association of REALTORS® is participating in a coalition with other industry associations to support the State of Washington’s request for U.S. Supreme Court review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in this case. That decision ordered the State of Washington to reconstruct or remove culverts beneath roadways throughout the State of Washington because those culverts allegedly interfere with salmon migration, in violation of certain 19th century Indian treaties. The estimated cost of such culvert remediation is approximately $2.00 billion.
b. Texas Association of REALTORS® v. PDFfiller, Inc.
In December 2016, TAR sued PDFfiller for copyright and trademark infringement for making certain TAR real estate forms available on the PDFfiller website for use with PDFfiller’s forms-filling software. This is the same defendant as in the California Association of REALTORS® litigation now pending in Massachusetts. The case is now in discovery.
c. Waldo v. Cousins and South Carolina Association of REALTORS ®
Waldo challenged the arbitration award issued by the South Carolina Association of REALTORS® in favor of Sperry Van Ness/Michael Cousins. Waldo claims that the award was not supported by evidence demonstrating that Cousins was procuring cause, and that the arbitration panel’s award was arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law. The Master-In-Equity designated to decide the case vacated the arbitration award on the basis of her conclusion that the award was made in “manifest disregard of law.” She held that South Carolina co-brokerage agreements must be in writing, and because there was no written agreement to share the commission the arbitration panel made an error of law in granting an award to Cousins. Typically, the “error of law” standard is narrow, and requires arbitrators to know and intentionally disregard the applicable law. Cousins and the South Carolina Association of REALTORS® are appealing the ruling.