Zillow Facing Lawsuit After Executive Hire

Move, Inc. filed a suit Monday against Zillow, Inc. and newly hired Zillow executive Errol Samuelson. The suit was filed in the Superior Court of King County, Washington.

The lawsuit against Zillow and Samuelson alleges breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriate of trade secrets.

"At Move, we take our trade secrets and intellectual property extremely seriously as a valuable asset in our competitive position in the marketplace," said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, in a press release.

Berkowitz continued, "We take action in cases in which we believe our trade secrets have been compromised. We have raised this matter for the courts and believe that the matter will be resolved judiciously."

Samuelson, former Chief Strategy Officer of Move, Inc. recently joined Zillow as chief industry development officer.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and its subsidiary Realtors Information Network, Inc., joined as plaintiffs in the suit, with the NAR issuing the following statement: "NAR’s relationship with MOVE and realtor.com is based on a mutual respect for REALTORS and their efforts to bring online home buying and selling resources to consumers, and the defendants named in the lawsuit have not demonstrated that same respect."

The group added that no NAR dues are being used on the suit, as Move is covering all costs.