CoStar Vs Move Inc.: New Filing Against Former Realtor.com Employee as CoStar Calls Out "Distraction" Tactics

Inman has reported that the former Move Inc. employee involved in a lawsuit between Realtor.com and CoStar accessed and transferred ownership of up to 40 individual files to his personal email address in the days before he left Realtor.com.

Editor James Kaminksy left Realtor.com in January 2024 and was hired by CoStar in March, with previous reporting suggesting Kaminsky had access to four sensitive documents that could be used to accelerate CoStar's real estate portal Homes.com unfairly. According to Move's latest filing, that number has now swelled by 10x.

Move attorneys claim that the files include trade secrets such as details on the company’s online traffic, advertising and lead generation tactics - and have moved to block the employee and his new employer CoStar from accessing the files while the lawsuit progresses.

However, the latest filing does not accuse the employee of sharing any documents with his new employer.

According to a forensic analysis in new legal filings Tuesday, Move, Inc. Vice President of Editorial and Content Amy Maas said:

"Anyone with access to these documents knows what will be published on Realtor.com, and when.

"How Realtor.com’s stories are performing, and why, who Move’s Communications team is in contact with and what information media outlets are requesting from Move."

Kaminsky is currently on administrative leave from CoStar and has vehemently defended his actions in the latest high-profile spat between rival portal CEOs Andy Florance (CoStar) and Damian Eales (Realtor.com)—both of whom called out the other in on-stage appearances at the Inman Connect even this summer.

CoStar has also defended its position in the lawsuit and has claimed more than once that Move is engaging in a publicity stunt—and has gone a step further this time by accusing Move of trying to distract the industry from a separate lawsuit filed against it last week.

Gene Boxer, general counsel at CoStar, told Online Marketplaces:

"Move’s sense of desperation is palpable. Its latest filing just repeats the same attorney arguments, without any evidence that CoStar has, or has used, Move documents.

"Move’s latest filing comes two days after a slew of news stories detailing a proposed class action complaint contending that Move is promoting and selling fake leads. The timing is interesting.

"Move’s case against CoStar is now hanging by a thread. CoStar has continually pushed Move for proof of its remaining allegations, but instead Move keeps repeating the same attorney arguments, which it did in last night’s filing.

"Move filed a federal case claiming that CoStar was building a rival news product by using Move trade secrets. CoStar has stated repeatedly and publicly that Move’s claim was and is false. CoStar also wrote to Move and threatened sanctions for making that false claim. Move then deleted some of its related allegations, because they were false.

"We have stated from the beginning that Move’s case against CoStar was a PR stunt, and this is just more proof.

"Move’s continued bullying of a long-serving employee in the process is even worse. We will fight and win this dispute.

"In the meantime, Move should focus on the lawsuit against Realtor.com for allegedly selling unvetted and fraudulent buyer and seller leads."

Realtor.com sued for selling 'bad' leads

A group of eight realtors filed a lawsuit against Move last week alleging that Realtor.com sells unvetted and potentially fraudulent buyer and seller leads to agents.

The agents, from California, Nevada, Washington, Florida, Georgia and New York State respectively, filed a class action motion for selling questionable leads via Realtor.com, ListHub and UpNest—which are all owned by Move Inc.

The National Association of Realtors was also named as a co-defendant for their role in the alleged scheme, which claims between 40-50% of Realtor's leads have no intent to purchase.

Furthermore, Realtor.com is accused of selling the same group of at least 36 leads to multiple agents, which breaks an exclusivity agreement.

The lawsuit claims Move scraped data from owned, controlled, operated and affiliate websites and social media sites to gather information about users who are searching for common real estate terms—and then presented them as fully-vetted, high-intent leads as a buyable commodity, even if they weren't necessarily actively looking to buy a property.

The lawsuit goes one step further in asserting that some of the so-called leads were unverifiable as "an actual, living human being".

Other claims include accusing senior executives, managing agents, managers, directors and officers at News Corp, Move, Realtor.com and NAR of knowingly ignoring complaints from agents and 'willfully and consciously' ignoring the alleged sale of unvetted and/or fraudulent leads.

Court documents said:

Defendants’ unlawful conduct alleged herein is so widespread that it has caused harm to the goodwill of each prospective class member and the residential real estate agency (and brokerage) business as a whole,” court documents read. “Defendants have previously been sued for nearly identical conduct and resolved such lawsuits; but yet continue to operate the Scheme and the fraudulent and unlawful business practices alleged herein.

Defendants further misled, defrauded and intentionally deceived each of the Plaintiffs (and each potential member of the class) by representing that by paying subscription fees, enhanced subscription fees and other payments; each such real estate agent was obtaining specific benefits which had a high likelihood to generate business and clients for each such real estate agent.

The lawsuit is strong in its wording against NAR for "aiding and abetting" the scheme:

NAR is (and at all times was) independently and intimately aware of the Scheme and complicit therein through NAR’s relationship with and reliance upon the other Defendants to build its membership ranks.

NAR actively and passively induced each of the Plaintiffs (and each member of the prospective class) to do business with the Defendants.

NAR allows and contributes to its affiliation with its co-defendants to act as a broad endorsement of the conduct alleged herein (and the co-defendants’ Fraudulent Scheme itself) so that the Plaintiffs and each member of the prospective class trusted and relied upon NAR’s affiliation with the other Defendants.