GREENSBORO – A federal judge has denied RealPage’s request to dismiss antitrust claims brought by North Carolina and other states, allowing the states’ case over the company’s rent-pricing software to proceed.
U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. issued the ruling Sept. 30 in the Middle District of North Carolina. The order also denied joint and separate dismissal motions from Camden Property Trust, Pinnacle Property Management Services and Willow Bridge Property Company. Motions involving Greystar and LivCor were denied as moot because claims involving those companies had already been resolved.
The case began in 2024 with the U.S. Justice Department, North Carolina and other states challenging RealPage’s use of nonpublic rental information. The amended complaint alleges that RealPage collected competitively sensitive data from property managers and used it to generate pricing recommendations, reducing competition in multifamily rental markets. Those assertions remain allegations.
Osteen’s order addressed whether the complaint plausibly stated legal claims, not whether RealPage or the remaining landlords violated antitrust law. At the motion-to-dismiss stage, courts generally accept well-pleaded allegations as true and draw reasonable inferences for the plaintiffs. The order says the court was not deciding the merits of the claims.
The procedural posture has changed since the original filing. The federal government’s claims against RealPage were resolved through a final judgment in May, while the plaintiff states’ claims against RealPage and Pinnacle remain. Claims brought by all plaintiffs also remain against Camden and Willow Bridge, according to the order.
The North Carolina Department of Justice said Oct. 2 that the ruling permits the state’s case to continue. Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office is seeking to stop the alleged exchange and use of nonpublic rental data. Any finding of liability or court-ordered relief remains unresolved.
For North Carolina, the decision keeps the state in active litigation over software used in rental-housing pricing. The next stages of the case will determine whether the surviving claims can be proven beyond the pleading stage.
Sources
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, memorandum opinion and order
- North Carolina Department of Justice, Oct. 2 release
Photo Credit: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons; public domain with no known restrictions on publication. L. Richardson Preyer Federal Building and Courthouse in Greensboro, photographed Nov. 18, 2013.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.