Link: Patel v. Zillow, Inc., No. 18-2130 (7th Cir. 2019).
The 7th Circuit affirmed two decisions from the Northern District of Illinois, confirming that a disgruntled property owner can’t sue Zillow (and likley similar sites like Redfin or Trulia) for the low “Zestimate” on its website. Plaintiff, on behalf of the class, alleged it was not licensed to issue appraisals and that its activity violated the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, 815 ILCS §§ 510/1 to 510/7.
The court confirmed that the licensing statute at issue ( Illinois Real Estate Appraiser Licensing Act, 225 ILCS 458/1 to 458/999-99) does not confer a private right of action, and that as for the IUDTPA claim, that
the district judge was right to observe that the statute deals with statements of fact, while Zestimates are opinions, which canonically are not actionable. See, e.g., Sampen v. Dabrowski, 222 Ill. App. 3d 918, 924-25 (1st Dist. 1991) (where a valuation is explicitly labeled an estimate, there is no deception)…