US yacht brokers defeat antitrust lawsuit over commission fees

Jan 21 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Florida has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the world's largest yacht brokers’ association and others of bilking boat sellers by charging inflated sales commissions.

Miami-based U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled on Tuesday that the plaintiffs failed to show a group of boating brokerages, yacht broker associations and a yacht listing service conspired to fix broker commissions.

Moore also said it was not unreasonable for yacht brokerages to want to do business only with sellers who have an agent representing them.

The case, filed by a group of yacht sellers, alleged that International Yacht Brokers Association and others, including Boat Trader, Yacht World and Boats.com operator Boats Group LLC, violated antitrust law by coercing sellers to pay a commission of 10% of a vessel's sale price that is split between the agents for both sides in a sale.

The International Yacht Brokers Association, Boats Group and attorneys for plaintiff Ya Mon Expeditions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Moore’s ruling applied to three cases that were consolidated in his court.

The lawsuits, first filed in February 2024, drew parallels to the listing services through which most homes are sold in the United States. Home sellers typically pay a commission that covers the services of their agent and a broker for the buyer.

A wave of lawsuits has rocked the home real estate industry, leading to more than a billion dollars in settlements between home sellers and major U.S. real estate brokerages.

The yacht industry defendants in seeking dismissal of the boat sellers’ lawsuits said the plaintiffs were seeking to “piggyback” off lawsuits against home brokers and the trade group National Association of Realtors.

The yacht defendants told the court that unlike the real estate litigation, “no dominant yacht-broker trade association can set rules for all yacht brokers, and no single platform is essential to competition.”