In his lawsuit, which was filed in August, Zea claims that the defendants engaged in a “coordinated scheme” to restrict consumer choice and maintain elevated prices, harming his brokerage model. According to Zea, buyer’s agents associated with the defendants steer clients away from properties that offer a reduced or non-existent buyer’s agent commission. In his complaint he argues that this steering is the result of NAR and the other defendants not enforcing their own rules. By allegedly refusing to enforce these rules, Zea claims that the defendants have competitively disadvantaged his discount-brokerage business. Due to this, he is asking the court to force the defendants to enforce their own rules.