New developments in Move, Inc.’s breach of contract suit against Zillow emerged Friday when Move, Inc. announced that it had settled a contempt motion that had been part of the lawsuit.
In a statement released to RISMedia, Move said, “Today we reached a confidential settlement of the contempt motion in the case of Move, Inc. et al. vs. Zillow, Inc. et al. While we cannot reveal its details, we’re absolutely thrilled with the result, and now it’s full-steam ahead with the prosecution of this litigation, which alleges the massive theft of trade secrets, the compromise of confidential business strategies, stolen electronic equipment and the destruction of documents, grossly anti-competitive behavior and other serious breaches of integrity and honest corporate practices.”
Move and NAR filed the suit last March against Zillow, alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of trade secrets, among other actions, after then-realtor.com® president and Move Chief Strategy Officer, Errol Samuelson left the company and was announced as Zillow’s Chief Industry Development Officer on the same day he resigned from Move, Inc.
According to reports, the lawsuit alleges that Samuelson’s knowledge of Move’s trade secrets and strategies would make it impossible for him to function in his role at Zillow without divulging those secrets.
This past year has been a tumultuous one for the listing portal giants—between Zillow’s acquisition of Trulia, News Corp’s acquisition of Move, the termination of listing agreements between Zillow, Trulia and ListHub (Move’s listing management service), and the ongoing breach of contract litigation between Move and Zillow over Samuelson’s and Curt Beardsley’s exits from Move to join top posts at Zillow. Beardsley was Move’s #2 who briefly filled Samuelson’s post after he left, but then only days later himself announced he was taking on a leadership role at Zillow.
Since the breach of contract lawsuit was filed last March, a Washington State Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction in the case against Zillow and Samuelson in July of last year (which expired on March 22), which, among other things, prohibited activities relating to obtaining direct data feeds of listing data and activities relating to developing contact relationship management (CRM) tools. Later alleging violations of the injunction, Move filed a motion against Zillow for contempt of court in January and in February of this year, a judge granted the motion, ruling, according to reports, that further investigation into that was warranted.
Friday’s settlement of the contempt motion between the two entities now clears the way for the lawsuit to continue. With the settlement, Move agrees to forgo the contempt proceeding. Court documents also state that, Zillow and Samuelson “opposed the contempt motion and argued that their conduct was consistent with the restrictions in the preliminary injunction and make this stipulation without any admission of liability.”
Zillow confirmed the settlement Monday, and in a statement to RISMedia, said: “We can confirm we reached a confidential settlement on the contempt motion in this pending litigation. Move’s claims are entirely without merit and we intend to vigorously defend against the allegations set forth in their complaint.”
To be continued…
