Judge Denies Request to Toss Out Yardi Case

Antitrust attorneys David Kully and Kenneth Racowski were mentioned in a Multifamily Dive article discussing a federal judge's decision to deny a motion to dismiss an antitrust class-action lawsuit against Yardi Systems and 10 apartment operators. The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges that the defendants engaged in a nationwide scheme to fix multifamily apartment rent prices using Yardi's automated pricing software. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik's ruling, which found the plaintiffs' allegations of price-fixing to be per se anticompetitive conduct, contrasts with a similar case involving RealPage in Tennessee. Mr. Kully and Mr. Racowski commented on the implications of the development.

"This ruling will not absolve the plaintiffs of the need to prove the existence of a conspiracy among Yardi and its customers, but if they establish the existence of the requisite conscious commitment to a common scheme, it will mean they will not need to show actual harm to competition under the 'rule of reason,'" they said.

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