Pogust Goodhead has filed an antitrust class action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on behalf of sellers of vessels, boats, or yachts (“Yachts”) in the United States.
Yacht Brokerage Industry Anticompetitive Agreements
The case alleges that Yacht brokers and Yacht Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) entered into anticompetitive agreements. This caused Yacht sellers to pay artificially inflated commissions to brokers in connection with the sale of Yachts starting in 2020.
The agreement was implemented through the structuring of Yacht MSLs to conceal information from the public. This gave brokers an unfair advantage and effectively kept sellers from entering into private, non-brokered transactions. The result is that Yacht sellers have not only been forced to pay a commission that, in a competitive market, would be paid by the buyer, but an inflated commission at that.
This antitrust action comes on the heels of similar claims in the real estate industry in which home sellers have, for decades, paid commissions of approximately 5-6%, which is generally shared equally by the buyer-broker and seller-broker regardless of the relative efforts expended by them.
In October 2023, a Missouri jury found the National Association of Realtors and certain real estate brokerages liable for $1.8 billion in damages (before trebling, which, pursuant to federal antitrust law, allows for private plaintiffs to recover three times their damages) for conspiring to fix and maintain commission arrangements in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. Section 1 the Sherman Act prohibits agreements that unreasonably restrain trade.
The case is MAGNA CHARTER, LLC v. BOATS GROUP, LLC, et al.
Pogust Goodhead’s antitrust team has extensive experience representing victims of all types of anticompetitive conduct, from price fixing cartels to illegal monopolies.
If you have any questions or information related to the Tires price fixing case, please contact Jeffrey Gittleman or another member of the team below.
