In May, Zillow filed a lawsuit against Compass and Chicago-based MLS Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), as MRED threatened to cut Zillow’s listing feed off over alleged violations of its rules related to banned private listings.
The lawsuit quickly escalated, with MRED briefly following through on its threat before Judge John Tharp of the Northern District of Illinois ordered MRED to restore the feed—and compelled Zillow to carry a handful of previously banned listings.
Now, Zillow is claiming that MRED and Compass have objected and refused to respond to some initial interrogatories (formal requests for information) in an “expedited discovery” process, citing the “burden” of providing the relevant information.
“Defendants have declined to suggest any compromise, and refuse to provide any response to these disputed interrogatories by the Court’s June 5, 2026 deadline,” the filing reads. As a result, Zillow is asking Tharp to compel Compass and MRED to respond to the first two interrogatories by the June 5 deadline.
Spokespersons for MRED and Compass did not immediately respond to requests for comment after normal business hours.
The lawsuit is on a fast-track, with Tharp currently considering Zillow’s request to prevent MRED from again cutting it from its listing feed while the litigation plays out. Leaders at Zillow, MRED and Compass are all scheduled to be deposed in the coming days, with a hearing scheduled for early July.
Zillow’s initial requests largely focused on communications between MRED and Compass related to MRED rule changes, or Zillow and its rules—or its compliance with MRED rules. Those requests are what MRED and Compass are objecting to.
Notably, Zillow is also asking for “a list of every MRED member brokerage, agency, or agent that MRED has identified in the last five years as violating any MRED or MLS Grid rule relating to exclusion of listings from IDX or VOW feeds” (which MRED agreed to provide).
Previously, MRED said that Zillow was in violation of its rules regarding how IDX feed recipients can filter listings, with Zillow calling that reasoning “pretextual” and accusing Compass and MRED of conspiring to undermine its business.
In the latest filing, Zillow claimed that it offered to “significantly narrow the scope of the Interrogatories,” limiting its request to in-person or oral communications and only for “issues most pertinent,” but Compass still refused to provide a list of the relevant communications. Likewise, MRED has continued to object to the request for communications.
Compass did agree to provide a list of transactions taking place on MRED that involved the brokerage, along with details regarding commissions, use of private listing platforms (both MRED’s and Compass’s) and what agents and brokerages were involved in the sales at a later date.
While all of this information will only be accessible to attorneys in the case (covered by a protective order Tharp imposed earlier this week), a huge trove of documents in the previous lawsuit between Zillow and Compass were eventually released publicly.
Zillow also argued that its request to Compass is “substantively identical” to Compass’s own discovery demand in that previous lawsuit—noting that it responded in a “timely” manner to that request.
