Only a few months after making headlines across both trade and mainstream media for a Google partnership described as (potentially) transformative for real estate, housing data firm HouseCanary filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey federal court this week, as the company seemingly navigates a messy decades-long court fight.
According to the court filing, six separate HouseCanary LLCs are filing for joint administration of their bankruptcy cases. Among the creditors—with the filing listing around $25 million unsecured claims from 30 entities—are Australia-based Marbruck Investments, California-based Sweetwater Capital, and Black Knight.
The case appears to center on a long-running legal dispute with a Rocket subsidiary. According to a statement from Rocket, HouseCanary is seeking a “lifeline” from monies that are still pending from the court cases.
“HouseCanary appears to have confused a disputed jury award with money in the bank,” a Rocket Close spokesperson said. “No judgment has been entered in this litigation. The court is still considering legal challenges that will determine whether a judgment is entered at all and we intend to appeal any adverse judgment. HouseCanary’s need for $260 million does nothing to resolve those issues.”
HouseCanary did not comment specifically on the bankruptcy filing in emails to RISMedia, noting that there was a hearing in the case this afternoon.
Back in 2016, title insurance company Amrock (formerly known as Title Source, now owned by Rocket) sued HouseCanary over a fizzled deal for automated valuation software. HouseCanary counter-sued, claiming Amrock breached their contract and stole HouseCanary’s trade secrets to build its own software.
The back-and-forth involved a $700 million verdict in HouseCanary’s favor—a verdict that was eventually overturned—and a re-trial that still saw the company win another verdict of $175 million earlier this year.
The latest development appears to hinge on these judgements. Bloomberg reported that the bankruptcy filing was intended to “buy time” for the company to collect on those verdicts, which amount to $260 million with interest and other costs.
Separately, though, National Law Review claimed the bankruptcy “appears…timed” to prevent a creditor from auctioning off “substantially all of HouseCanary assets” on Sept. 22, with other creditors involved.
Those assets did not include money or claims from the Amrock lawsuit verdict, according to National Law Review.
The news comes as HouseCanary seeks to lead Google’s latest foray into real estate listings, launching a trial run of placing MLS listings in Google search in 2025 before formally launching the program nationwide in June of this year.
Speaking on an RISMedia webinar after the launch, HouseCanary CEO Chris Rediger noted the partnership offered listings exposure to Google’s 16 billion daily searches, while claiming Google was not trying to replace real estate portals.
