December 11, 2025
A Washington federal judge on Thursday appointed Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and DiCello Levitt LLP as interim co-lead counsel over consolidated claims that Zillow paid kickbacks to brokers for referrals to its own mortgage services, among other anticompetitive conduct using company agents.
U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in a Wednesday order consolidated cases brought by lead plaintiffs Alucard Taylor in September and Araba Armstrong in November. Judge Robart ordered the two law firms to serve as interim co-leads in a separate Thursday order.
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The Premier Agent program allows participating agents and brokers to pay for or earn access to homebuyer inquiries on the Zillow website, according to Armstrong’s lawsuit. Through the Premier program, along with its Flex program, Zillow distributes leads to agents based on their referrals to the company’s home loan services.
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In the September case, Taylor, who lives in Portland, Oregon, claimed he was browsing on Zillow when he clicked a button to “contact agent.” Taylor believed he’d be connected with a listing agent for the property he was looking at.
Instead, an agent affiliated with Zillow contacted him. Throughout the process of touring the home and the closing, Taylor said he never believed he had an option to use an agent other than the one provided by Zillow. In the end, the home seller could have paid less in commissions and set a lower purchase price, Taylor argued.
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The Taylor plaintiffs are represented by Jerrod C. Patterson and Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Douglas James McNamara of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
Read Zillow Cases Over Agent Steering, Kickbacks Merge In Wash. .