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Four months after multifamily software company RealPage was hit with an antitrust lawsuit from the Department of Justice and eight states, the company has filed a motion to dismiss the case.
On Tuesday, the Richardson, Texas-based software company argued that the DOJ's initial complaint lacked factual allegations that its software caused anticompetitive impacts to the market, Multifamily Dive reported. The company said its software isn't allowed to raise rents above the competitive level.
“DOJ has not been able, despite conclusions and labels, to articulate a theory of facts that shows anticompetitive effects, such as higher prices than a competitive market would sustain,” RealPage outside counsel Stephen Weissman told reporters on a Wednesday call, Mulitfamily Dive reported.
RealPage didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment.
RealPage argued that to inflate rents, 30% to 40% of the units in a market would need to use the company's AI Revenue Management or YieldStar software programs.
The DOJ has argued that usage of RealPage's software is between 29% and 60% of the 130 markets it is present in, The Real Deal reported. However, RealPage said the market share calculations should be measured more broadly and would indicate a smaller number of units affected as a result.
Weissman also argued that the DOJ narrowed what it deemed a competitor by excluding in-house operator systems and other traditional methods of pricing.
RealPage's problems began in 2022 after ProPublica reported that the company was artificially inflating rents across the country.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against RealPage in August after a nearly two-year probe, alleging the company helps landlords artificially increase rents. It said the practice is in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The lawsuit has already caused multifamily owners and operators to stray away from similar revenue management software to avoid legal risk, Bisnow reported in September.
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