Ya Mon Suit: Not Only Are Yacht Brokers Like Those Bad Old Realtors; They're Actually Worse

Judge Asked Not To Dismiss Class-Action Litigation

YouTube is awash in videos explaining the changes in the way property is bought and sold in America after last month’s implementation of new procedures, as ordered by a federal judge. This is a typically hyperbolic treatment.

All over the United States, prospective homebuyers are learning there’s a new process for real estate transactions after realtors lost a huge lawsuit. The subsequent suit against America’s biggest yacht brokers has been derided as a opportunistic copycat of the original, but the folks doing the suing are doubling down on the idea.

Lawyers for the plaintiff in Ya Mon vs. Allied Marine et al. are saying that the inequities of the American yacht brokerage system are actually much worse than the objectionable past practices the real estate industry has been forced to leave behind.

“Defendants’ scheme is no different than the anticompetitive conspiracy that real estate brokers engaged in and has been adjudged as unlawful,” Ya Mon lawyers wrote.

“If anything, the effects of defendants’ anticompetitive conduct are far worse, and defendants’ ability to control this market is far more extensive. Defendants’ anticompetitive restraints have resulted in yacht commissions that are roughly double the challenged real-estate commissions. By defendants’ own admission, it is the ‘norm’ for yacht sellers to pay 10 percent of the listing or sales price as the commission.”

These defendants—a collection of big brokerage houses, brokers associations and multiple-listing services—have asked a federal judge in South Florida to dismiss the case. These latest arguments were Ya Mon’s answer, the purpose of which is to dissuade District Court Judge K. Michael Moore from doing any such thing.

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