32 FEBRUARY 15, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
REAL ESTATE
LIC real estate fi rm Modern Spaces sues competitor for poaching
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM / @ANGELAMATUA
Modern Spaces, a real estate
fi rm with locations in Long
Island City and Astoria, is
suing a competitor for poaching
real estate agents and proprietary
information.
The fi rm, which was founded in
2008, has two offi ces in Long Island
City and is headed by CEO Eric Benaim.
Modern Spaces is suing Compass, a
brokerage fi rm that launched in 2012.
According to the suit, Modern
Spaces is claiming that Compass’
“main corporate strategy appears to
rely on undermining its competition
by unlawfully ‘poaching’ Modern
Spaces’ real estate agents while
simultaneously misappropriating
Modern Spaces’ confidential and
proprietary information to gain an
unfair advantage in a competitive
market.”
Jessica Meis, a real estate agent,
began working for Modern Spaces
in July 2017. During that time, the suit
states, she had access to private information
including open and exclusive
listings that were stored on the fi rm’s
password protected database.
Meis left the company in January
2018 to work for Compass and a few
days before her resignation, she allegedly
emailed dozens of fi les to herself
including “proprietary customer
and listing data,” according to the suit.
Modern Spaces is arguing that Meis
broke her confi dentiality agreement
when she did this and when she
took marketing materials, including
photographs, which were posted on
Compass’ website.
“Modern Spaces is not the fi rst company
to fall prey to the brazenly unethical
actions of Compass, as the extensive list
of lawsuits against them shows,” the
fi rm said in a statement. “In our case,
certain Modern Spaces agents appear
to have been used as tools by Compass,
who allegedly supplied them with stepby
step instructions on how to steal
proprietary company information and
listings. As a company with deep ties
to the Long Island City community we
serve and support, we will not sit idly
by and allow this malicious campaign
to publicly undermine Modern Spaces,
all in the name of gaining market share.”
Compass has been sued several
times by other fi rm’s for engaging in
similar practices, according to The Real
Deal, which fi rst reported the story.
The Corcoran Group and Citi Habitats
sued the company in 2015 for
poaching agents, violating non-compete
agreements and hacking into
listings. Compass then countersued
The Corcoran Group for launching a
smear campaign against its agents.
Saunders & Associates, a Hamptons
based firm, sued Compass in
2015, arguing that a former agent took
proprietary information and shared it
with Compass when she switched jobs.
According to The Real Deal, Compass
hired an agent from Nest Seekers
International last year to expand its
business into Long Island City.
“Compass has never been found
liable by court of committing any of
the allegations set forth in Modern
Space’s complaint,” the company said
in a statement to The Real Deal.
Photo via Facebook/ModernSpaces
A Long Island City real estate
fi rm is suing its competitor for
stealing agents and proprietary
information.
Ridgewood Times Sales Guide
Listings selected at random. Courtesy MLS
RIDGEWOOD
Menahan Street 77th Road 66th Street 84th Place
Under $600,000
21-16 Greene Ave.
$495,000
Condo
2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Clay Ligori
Charles Rutenberg Realty Inc.
$600,000 - $1,000,000
61-02 Menahan St.
$899,000
Single Family
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Tedy Teodori
Crifasi Real Estate Inc.
Over $1,000,000
75-34 60th Ln.
$1,089,000
Multi-Family
7 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Lin Han
Mapit Realty LLC
GLENDALE
Under $600,000
79-74 77th Rd.
$599,000
Single Family
2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Joanne Goode
Lovett Realty Inc.
$600,000 - $1,000,000
69-19 68th Pl.
$674,990
Single Family
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Gail Carillo
Coldwell Banker Residential
Over $1,000,000
77-52 74th St.
$1,200,000
Multi-Family
6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
Theresa LaBoccetta
Keller Williams Realty Liberty
MASPETH
Under $600,000
52-54 65th Pl.
$435,000
Co-op
3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Marco OToole
Keller Williams Landmark II
$600,000 - $1,000,000
53-82 66th St.
$788,000
Single Family
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Gulnara Cotiga
Landmark International R E LLC
Over $1,000,000
52-49 73rd St.
$1,049,000
Multi-Family
4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
Maureen Brennan
O Kane Realty
MIDDLE VILLAGE
Under $600,000
67-60 73rd Pl.
$495,000
Single Family
2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
John Amore
Exit Kingdom Realty
$600,000 - $1,000,000
60-27 78th St.
$799,000
Single Family
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Jesse Roland
Eliot Hill Realty Inc.
Over $1,000,000
58-33 84th Pl.
$1,299,900
Multi-Family
6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
Maddalena Giampino
Diana P Duarte Realty Corporation
