No Moving On: Ninth Circuit Says Realtor.com Can’t Enforce Arbitration in TCPA Case
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court ruling and held that Move, Inc. (better known as Realtor.com) can’t compel a consumer into arbitration over a lawsuit claiming violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Here’s what happened: A man named Priestley Faucett signed up for a website called HudHomesUSA.org, which is owned by a company named Nations Info Corp. As part of that process, he agreed to terms and conditions, including an arbitration clause requiring him to bring his claims in arbitration rather than in court.
The website sold his lead to Opcity, Inc., a subsidiary of Realtor.com. Faucett then alleged that he received unsolicited marketing calls to his cell phone and sued Realtor.com under the TCPA.
Realtor.com tried to use the arbitration clause from HudHomesUSA.org to get the case thrown out of court and moved to arbitration. But the court said no, because:
Realtor.com wasn’t a party to the agreement. The terms were between Faucett and Nations Info Corp., not Realtor.com or Opcity, Inc.
The reference to “affiliates” wasn’t enough to include Realtor.com. The terms didn’t clearly define Realtor.com as one of them or state that the arbitration clause applied to such affiliates.
Realtor.com wasn’t a third-party beneficiary. The terms weren’t written with the intent to benefit Realtor.com, so it could not enforce the arbitration provision on that basis.
Based on this ruling, Realtor.com will have to continue to fight this lawsuit in federal court.
Companies should understand that just because the term “affiliates” appears in a partner’s terms and conditions, it doesn’t automatically give them third-party beneficiary rights or the ability to enforce an arbitration clause.
The case is Faucett v. Move, Inc., No. 24-2631, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 8850 (9th Cir. Apr. 15, 2025).