A federal judicial panel has consolidated a consequential antitrust case, in which plaintiffs accuse corporate landlords of colluding to inflate rent, to Nashville Judge Waverly Crenshaw. A controversial algorithm offered by RealPage Inc. is at the center of the case. Real estate companies share data with RealPage, which then analyzes markets to help landlords set prices — a practice that, plaintiffs argue, amounts to collusion and price-fixing. The use of RealPage in markets like Seattle and Nashville has coincided with massive increases in rent.
A declaration issued by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation last week consolidated 21 related actions pending in six federal courts across the country. Yesterday, Crenshaw issued an order summoning counsel from all parties for an initial conference in downtown Nashville on Wednesday, May 31, at 1:30 p.m. Complaints allege that a handful of corporate landlords compiled large databases of rental information, at times leaving units intentionally vacant to shrink supply, drive up rent, gouge tenants and artificially inflate the housing market. Reporting by ProPublica in the fall initiated a Department of Justice probe into RealPage. Lawsuits started popping up in November.
A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would hold real estate companies liable for manipulating the rental market, a consequential decision that would strengthen consumer protections for renters. A ruling in favor of defendants would enshrine corporate real estate companies’ ability to coordinate prices across the rental market. Litigation is expected to take place over several years.
Local attorney Tricia Herzfeld represents Brandon Watters, the case’s only local plaintiff, who is suing RealPage alongside real estate companies BH Management, Cortland Partners, Cushman & Wakefield, Greystar, Highmark, Lincoln Property Co., and Mid-America Apartment Communities for “conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize rental housing prices in the Greater Nashville Metro Area.”
“Like so many other cities, Nashville has an affordable housing crisis,” says Herzfeld in a statement to the Scene. “We filed this lawsuit to stop apparently anti-competitive business practices that enrich large property managers at the expense of hard-working Americans. Nashvillians should be able to afford to live here.”
