Compass, Nwmls Antitrust Trial Delayed To October 2026

Compass and Northwest MLS (NWMLS) now have until October 2026 to prepare for the trial in their antitrust lawsuit. 

The two parties filed their request to extend the case schedule last Friday, with Seattle-based U.S. District Court Judge Jamal Whitehead granting their motion on Monday. 

Compass filed this lawsuit against NWMLS in late April 2025. The antitrust suit centers around NWMLS’s listing policy. As a non-Realtor-association affiliated MLS, NWMLS does not have to adhere to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) MLS policies. As a result of this, NWMLS’ listing policy does not have the same office exclusive carve out that NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) has. In the complaint, Compass claims that NWMLS “is a monopolist and a combination of competing real estate brokers.”

In response, NWMLS has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claimed that it has “no duty to deal” with Compass, and it most recently indicated that it “intends to assert counterclaims,” if the judge does not grant its motion to dismiss the suit.

The trial was originally slated to begin on June 8, 2026, but it will now begin on Oct. 7, 2026. 

According to the new schedule, written discovery must be substantially completed by Jan. 30, 2026, with fact discovery scheduled for completion by March 6, 2026. Deposition designations and pretrial orders are due by September 18, 2026, with jury instructions and trial briefs due three days later, and the pretrial conference scheduled for a week later on Sept. 28, 2026. 

In addition to the delayed trial date, Compass has also filed a motion to compel NWMLS to fulfill its discovery obligations. The brokerage plaintiff argues that they were forced to agree to the new schedule because NWMLS has been delinquent in responding to its discovery requests. NWMLS’s response to this motion is due later this month.