Since March, the yachting world has been impacted by a class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Miami by Ya Mon Expeditions, LLC. This lawsuit targets numerous brokerage firms, including Denison Yacht Sales, Allied Marine, United Yacht Sales, MarineMax, and Northrop & Johnson, as well as prominent listing platforms such as Boats.com and Yatco. Moreover, The International Yacht Brokers Association is also named as a defendant. At the heart of the lawsuit are allegations of price-fixing, accusing multi-listing services like Yatco of facilitating potentially anti-competitive behaviours that violate federal antitrust laws.
The roots of this lawsuit likely trace back to recent shifts within the real estate sector concerning commission structures. Home sellers in multiple lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and several major brokerages have argued that the trade group's regulations, especially those governing homes listed on its affiliated multiple listing services, unfairly bolstered agent commissions. These rules reportedly incentivised agents representing buyers to avoid showing listings where the seller’s broker offered lower commissions to the buyer’s agent.
In an article published by Soundings Trade World, IYBA Chief Operating Officer Paul Flannery addressed the allegations, stating: “We are aware of the complaint, which does not accurately portray the yacht brokerage industry. It incorrectly suggests that selling yacht brokers are required to pay the commissions of brokers representing yacht purchasers, or that there is a conspiracy to inflate commissions”.
Judge Michael Moore of the U.S. District Court in Miami recently granted the defendants additional time to compile exculpatory evidence and develop their arguments. This decision came in response to a motion filed by Northrop & Johnson, Galati Yacht Sales, MarineMax, United Yacht Sales, HMY Yacht Sales, Permira Advisers, and Boats Group. Notably, the Yacht World multiple-listing service, which is controlled by its parent companies Permira and Boats Group, is also implicated in this case.
However, Denison has chosen a distinct path from the rest, as Denison's legal team filed a motion to dismiss the charges against their client alone. In a bold move, they distanced themselves from Galati and Allied Marine, suggesting in their arguments that if guilt were to be assigned, it would more likely fall on these two.
Christopher M. Brainard, the attorney for Denison, described the lawsuit against his client as merely a 'cut and paste' from recent class-action lawsuits that have disrupted America's real estate commission system. Brainard argued that although the system for selling boats may seem similar to home sales on the surface, the underlying mechanics of yacht sales are fundamentally different. He emphasised to the judge that the arguments which undermined the National Association of Realtors do not apply to the context of yacht sales.