Accused of Conspiring, Yacht Brokers Ridicule Lawsuit, Ask Judge for Dismissal

GUEST POST: UPDATE ON THE CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT, FROM PETER SWANSON OF "LOOSE CANNON", WITH ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY BY PHIL FRIEDMAN

“In their attempt to track the allegations in the real estate cases, plaintiffs put forward a complaint riddled with contradictions, false accusations at odds with material the complaint incorporates by reference, and impermissible group pleading.” —from Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss

Preface: The class-action lawsuit against key players in the U.S. yacht brokerage sector continues to lumber along at glacial speed and, IMO, continues to exhibit a lack of clear focus or clarity of theory — although my own considered opinion is that there is more than just smoke at hand. Read Peter Swanson’s update here, then, as part of our team coverage of the story, see my commentary, added at the back end of this piece. Cheers! — Phil Friedman

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FROM PETER SWANSON:

The defendants in the Ya Mon vs. Allied Marine case are like the Holy Trinity, roughly analogous to the big yacht brokerage houses as Father, the associations to which brokers belong as Son and YachtWorld (and those other multiple listing services) as the Holy Ghost, worker of marketing magic.

According to the plaintiffs in this billion-dollar class-action lawsuit, these actors indeed work in concert, monopolizing the marketplace and fleecing the flock, as it were—all in violation of federal law as contained in the Sherman Antitrust Act.

One of the key moments in any federal litigation happened Friday for Ya Mon. High-power attorneys for the above threesome filed a motion asking U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore to dismiss the case. The next step will be for Ya Mon plaintiffs to write a response, justifying why their allegations of marketplace conspiracy ought to be heard by a jury instead of being dismissed by a judge.

“In their attempt to track the allegations in the real estate cases, plaintiffs put forward a complaint riddled with contradictions, false accusations at odds with material the complaint incorporates by reference, and impermissible group pleading.”—Motion to Dismiss

The defendants in the Ya Mon vs. Allied Marine case are like the Holy Trinity, roughly analogous to the big yacht brokerage houses as Father, the associations to which brokers belong as Son and YachtWorld (and those other multiple listing services) as the Holy Ghost, worker of marketing magic.

According to the plaintiffs in this billion-dollar class-action lawsuit, these actors indeed work in concert, monopolizing the marketplace and fleecing the flock, as it were—all in violation of federal law as contained in the Sherman Antitrust Act.

One of the key moments in any federal litigation happened Friday for Ya Mon. High-power attorneys for the above threesome filed a motion asking U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore to dismiss the case. The next step will be for Ya Mon plaintiffs to write a response, justifying why their allegations of marketplace conspiracy ought to be heard by a jury instead of being dismissed by a judge.

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Previous Background: Recently, one of the defendants, the California Yacht Brokers Association, filed a separate motion to dismiss based largely on California law. Read the full story here:

➡️ https://www.portroyalgroup.com/p/california-brokers-disavow-any-knowledge ⬅️

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Referring to another lawsuit that upended the real estate market, the defendants in last Friday's motion to dismiss began with this:

Plaintiffs’ complaint is the proverbial attempt to fit a square peg in a round hole. Throughout the complaint, plaintiffs strain to analogize the yacht industry to the real estate industry, seeking to piggyback off lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and real estate brokers that alleged conspiracies to inflate real estate commission rates. These efforts fail given the fundamental differences between the allegations in the real estate cases and those put forward here...