April 14th, 2016 — Residential real-estate brokers have filed a class action against DuProprio. They accuse it of broadcasting “misleading” commercials, which “disparage their work”.
The real-estate brokers will be represented by the “Fédération des chambres immobilières du Québec (FCIQ)” (Québec Real-Estate Boards), which has obtained the authorization (from the Superior Court of Québec) to proceed with this class action.
According to the daily La Presse, which has consulted the Court documents, the “FCIQ” alleges that DuProprio “discredits and unduly harms the brokers, thereby partaking in abusive and disloyal competition”.
The “FCIQ” (QREB) wishes to obtain a “permanent and interlocutory” injunction so that the enterprise ceases to use these commercials in any type of media, adds La Presse. DuProprio contested the request for authorization of the class action, as the “social objective” intended by this type of proceedings would have been be diverted “for the purpose of a strictly commercial strategy”.
The enterprise stated that it was disappointed with this judgment, arguing that the real-estate brokers’ intention was to “create an atmosphere of mistrust towards sales without an intermediary and to limit its development in Québec”.
The Superior Court of Québec will have to decide if the commercials are misleading, if they intend to denigrate brokers and if the latter have suffered damages. In the final analysis, it will decide if it is appropriate to grant the injunction.
Montréal, April 14th, 2016
Source: La Presse
