Foreclosure Bid Rigging Litigation Headed for Antitrust Trial

The Estates LLC, which runs a database of North Carolina properties in foreclosure, lost its bid to avoid a trial of bid-rigging conspiracy claims, when a federal judge in Greensboro, N.C., ruled Wednesday that the company’s arguments applied the wrong antitrust standard.

Judge Catherine C. Eagles denied summary judgment to the Estates, saying its efforts to show that the homeowners leading the case offered insufficient evidence “under a rule of reason analysis” were beside the point because bid-rigging, if proven, is a per se violation.

The rule of reason “is the wrong test,” Eagles wrote for the U.S. District Court ...