Zillow, MRED face July 1 hearing after restraining order on feeds

A temporary restraining order expires 14 days after May 22, after which either party may resume the behaviors prohibited by the order. Judge Tharp granted expedited discovery tied to Zillow’s preliminary injunction motion seeking to prevent MRED from suspending Zillow’s listing feed. The motion was filed the same day MRED notified Zillow that the MLS would suspend listing feeds unless Zillow cured what the MLS called a material breach of license agreements. Discovery deadlines require document and interrogation requests by Friday, with limits of two information custodians per party for interrogation requests. Document production and written discovery responses follow the next Friday, with custodian depositions due by June 12 and expert depositions due by June 22. A hearing is set for July 1 and 2, with post-hearing briefs due July 9 and replies due July 13. Zillow must respond to MRED’s motion to compel arbitration by June 25, with MRED’s reply due June 29. MRED argues the licensing agreement includes arbitration for disputes.

"A temporary restraining order is set to expire 14 days from May 22, meaning that after that date, either party could potentially choose to resume the behaviors banned in the order if they so choose. However, in a ruling on Tuesday, Judge Tharp granted the parties' motion for expedited discovery regarding Zillow's preliminary injunction motion and set a schedule for the discovery as well as the hearing regarding Zillow's motion."

"Similar to Zillow's temporary restraining order, the preliminary injunction motion asks the court to prevent MRED from suspending its listing feed. The motion was filed the same day MRED notified Zillow that the MLS would suspend its listing feeds unless it cured what the MLS called a material breach of its license agreements. According to the minute entry on the court docket, the parties have until Friday to file their document and interrogation requests."

"However, the entry notes that only two information custodians per party can be served interrogation requests. The following Friday, the parties must file their document production and responses to written discovery, with depositions of the custodians needing to be completed by June 12, while expert depositions need to be completed by June 22. From there, the court has set aside July 1 and 2 for the hearing on the motion, with post-hearing briefs on the hearing due by July 9 and replies due on July 13."

"MRED filed its motion to compel arbitration last week, claiming that in the licensing agreement Zillow signed for access to the data feeds, it agreed to arbitration in regard to any disputes. For a preliminary injunction to be awarded, parties typically must show that they are reasonably likely to win the underlying lawsuit, will suffer harm that cannot be adequately fixed later with money damages alone if the injunction"

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