NOTICE TO HEMPHILL SETTLEMENT CLASS

You do not need to take any action related to this notice.  There is no class action settlement to opt into at this time.  This communication is to notify you of a court decision that affects the distribution of MLS in San Diego County.

If you paid charges to, subscribed to, or participated in the Sandicor MLS between January 1, 2000 and September 23, 2004, then you may be a member of the Settlement Class Hemphill v. San Diego Association of Realtors, et. al., Case No. 04-cv-1495 BEN (JMA) (S.D. Cal.) (“Hemphill”).  Please refer to the previous notice issued to the Hemphill Settlement class on September 11, 2018, found here: [link].  The information and definitions in that notice are incorporated here.

This communication is to notify the Hemphill Settlement Class that the Court has approved the proposed modification of the permanent injunction in Hemphill, as requested in the parties’ joint motion.  The following provisions are now stricken from the Hemphill injunction to allow for the new distribution structure in the SDAR settlement:

4. Sandicor shall unilaterally determine and advise each of the respective Association Defendants [SDAR, NSDCAR, ESDCAR, PSAR and COAR] of the amount Sandicor will charge that Association Defendant for providing Sandicor MLS Data to that Association Defendant.
5. Each of the Association Defendants shall unilaterally determine the amount it will charge to each user of the Sandicor MLS who has heretofore or who hereafter subscribes to, or participates in, the Sandicor MLS, at or through that given Association Defendant.

Paragraph 6 of the Final Judgment has been amended to read as follows:

6. Each Settling Defendant, and their respective successors-in-interest, is enjoined from acting in concert with any other person or entity, directly or indirectly, to fix, raise, establish, maintain, set or coordinate the price or amount to be charged or terms of service for MLS-related services, data, data access, support services or other goods or services. 

MLS users in San Diego County will now have a choice of either subscribing to CRMLS, through NSDCAR or PSAR, or to SDMLS.  This will promote competition in San Diego County, which has had a single MLS (Sandicor) from 1991 to the present.  All parties involved fully support the details of the SDAR settlement.

If you would like to review the Court’s order approving this modification to the Hemphill injunction, or have any other questions, please contact Dan Mogin, dmogin@moginrubin.com, 619-687-6611