People v. MV Realty PBC CA2/5

I. INTRODUCTION

MV Realty1 appeals from a preliminary injunction which, among other things, required it to terminate within 30 days every memorandum2 (an encumbrance on title that secured its real estate commission) that it had recorded on the properties of California homeowners. We affirm.

The named defendants in this case are 10 corporations and 100 individual Doe defendants that we refer to collectively as MV Realty.

The memorandum is the “Memorandum of MVR Homeowner Benefit Agreement” recorded with the county registrar shortly after the defendants entered into the “MVR Homeowner Benefit Agreement” (agreement) with a consumer, which we describe further below.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND3

MV Realty is a Florida real estate brokerage company with two California subsidiaries. In 2022, MV Realty began marketing its “Homeowner Benefit Program” (the program) that sold “Forward Listing Contracts”4 to California homeowners. The program offered a cash payment to homeowners, of approximately .27 percent of their home value, in exchange for the homeowners granting MV Realty the exclusive right to sell their home. MV Realty marketed the program as a “one-of-a- kind,…