TN Real estate-Antitrust Violation Flashcards

TN Real estate-Antitrust Violation Flashcards The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) identifies other types of price fixing, including CONTINUE Agreements on terms and conditions of sale, including uniform freight charges, quantity discounts, or other differentials that affect the actual price of the productAgreements not to advertise prices or to refuse to sell the product through any bidding process Market AllocationMarket allocation is an antitrust violation. Market allocation occurs when real estate professionals from competing firms agree to divide their market-by geography, price range, property type, etc.-and then refrain from competing for business.Price Fixingis a conspiracy or agreement between business competitors to set their prices to buy or sell goods or services at a certain price point, and it's a violation of federal and state antitrust laws.Tie-In ArrangementsAnother form of antitrust violation is a tie-in arrangement in which the providing of one service is made dependent on the customer or client obtaining another. For instance, an agent cannot tell a seller Penalties for violating antitrust laws are very severeAccording to the Federal Trade Commission, fines can be as high as $100 million for a corporation or $1 million for an individual and may include prison terms of up to 10 years.Group BoycottingGroup boycotting involves two or more businesses conspiring against another. In the real estate profession, this can occur, for instance, when two or more brokers or agents refuse to cooperate and split commissions with another one, or when several brokerages in a certain area agree to stop running advertisements in a local newspaper.

Some additional types of group boycotting include:

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) identifies other types

of price fixing, including:

Agreements to establish or adhere to uniform price discountsAgreements to eliminate discounts to all customers or certain types of customersAgreements to adopt a specific formula for the computation of selling prices Tie-In Arrangements CONTINUEI can only offer this commission rate if you use the title company/inspector/mortgage broker I recommend." A tie-in

arrangement may also be negative: "I can only work with

you if you agree not to use XYZ Title Company." Both types of tie-in arrangements are violations of antitrust law.In addition to receiving a criminal sentence, a corporation or individual convicted of a Sherman Act violation may be ordered to make restitution to the victims for all overcharges. Victims of price-fixing conspiracies may

also be awarded up to three times the amount of damages suffered in a civil suit.The Sherman Act permits (in certain cases) the maximum fine to be increased to twice the gain or loss involved. In addition, collusion among competitors may

constitute violations of the mail or wire fraud statute, the false statements statute, or other federal felony statutes, all of which the Antitrust Division prosecutes.

And how's this for punishment? If your brokerage is found guilty of violating antitrust laws it may be subject to court-ordered supervision for up to 10 years. What does court-ordered supervision look like? An example is that a court-appointed representative spends one day a week evaluating the activities of your brokerage.Put the coffee on; you've got a visitor for the next decade.