Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
RealPage cartel class action:
- Who: Five California residents sued RealPage and nine top property rental management firms.
- Why: The plaintiffs say the property managers used RealPage software to collude on apartment prices and vacancies, pushing up the prices for real estate in the country.
- Where: The RealPage cartel class action was filed in a California federal court.
RealPage allowed landlords to use its software to run a cartel that artificially inflated the prices of multifamily residential real estate in the United States to above-competitive levels, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiffs, five California residents, filed the class action complaint against the technology company RealPage Inc. and nine top rental management firms Oct. 18 in a California federal court, alleging violations of the Sherman Act.
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 is a federal statute that prohibits activities that restrict interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace.
According to the lawsuit, prior to 2016, the country’s largest lessors priced their apartments based on how best to compete with other lessors and to keep apartments full.
“However, beginning in approximately 2016, and potentially earlier, Lessors replaced their independent pricing and supply decisions with collusion,” the Real Page class action alleges. “Lessors agreed to use a common third party [RealPage] that collected real-time pricing and supply levels, and then used that data to make unit-specific pricing and supply recommendations. Lessors also agreed to follow these recommendations, on the expectation that competing Lessors would do the same.”
RealPage class action alleges company, apartment managers operate cartel
The software maker and the apartment managers using its software effectively operate a cartel, setting prices using RealPage’s algorithm and leaving units vacant as needed to avoid oversupply, the RealPage class action claims.
The plaintiffs also allege that RealPage openly boasts that its services balance supply and demand to maximize property managers’ revenue growth.
“And that is precisely what RealPage has done, facilitating an agreement among participating Lessors not to compete on price and allowing Lessors to coordinate both pricing and supply through two mutually reinforcing mechanisms in furtherance of their agreed aim of suppressing price competition for multifamily residential real estate leases,” the lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiffs look to represent anyone in the United States who is a direct purchaser of multifamily residential real estate leases from a lessor participating in RealPage’s pricing software or lease renewal staggering software programs from Oct. 18, 2018 until the alleged unlawful conduct ends, the RealPage cartel class action states.
There are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of members in the proposed class, the lawsuit claims. The plaintiffs seek certification of the class action, fees, costs and a jury trial.
Meanwhile, in July, RealPage agreed to pay over $9.73 million to resolve claims that it violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act by allowing incorrect sex offender registry data on tenant screening reports.
What do you think of the allegations against RealPage and these property managers? Let us know in the comments!
Members of the putative class are represented by Sophia M. Rios, Eric L. Cramer, Daniel J. Walker and Michaela L. Wallin of Berger Montague PC; Janet M. Herold, Benjamin D. Elga and Lucy B. Bansal of Justice Catalyst Law; Gary I. Smith Jr., Swathi Bojedla and Katie R. Beran of Hausfeld LLP; Brendan P. Glackin and Dean M. Harvey of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP; and Jason Scott Hartley of Hartley LLP.
The RealPage cartel class action lawsuit is Bason et al. v. RealPage Inc. et al., Case No. 3:22-cv-01611, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
3 thoughts onRealPage antitrust class action claims technology company operates ‘cartel’
The list of class actions against RealPage et al is now up to eight. Refer to case 1:22-cv-00976-LF, US District Court in New Mexico.
Correction: the list of states involved in class actions against RealPage et al is now up to eight.
Add me