A judge has dismissed a California real estate broker’s lawsuit over a Nebraska law requiring licensing to market Nebraska homes online.
Leslie Young’s lawsuit said that advertising “For sale by owner” homes online was constitutionally protected speech. But Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon disagreed in a ruling issued last week, saying the issue was regulation of conduct, not regulation of free speech because he found that Young had acted as an unlicensed broker.
Young’s Elist.me website features advertisements for properties listed on . Young filed the lawsuit after the Nebraska Real Estate Commission warned that if she did not stop publishing Nebraska listings on her website, she would face civil fines of $1,000 per day.
Young claimed she merely publishes information about the listings as a form of advertisement and doesn’t get a sales commission or provide other services to homeowners.
But Nebraska’s lawyers say in filings that she charges a fee and provides sellers with a CD containing information and web links.
