30(b) (6) Deposition Of Ron Roe : U.S. V. Consolidated Multiple Listing Services, Inc.

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Exhibit C

Ron Roe

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH
CAROLINA COLUMBIA DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff,

v.

CONSOLIDATED MULTIPLE LISTING
SERVICE, INC.,

Defendant.

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CA: 3:08cv1786 SB

ORIGINAL

30(b)(6) DEPOSITION
OF
RON ROE

Taken at:

Woodward, Cothran & Herndon
440 Knox Abbott Drive, Suite 200
Cayce, South Carolina 29033

On Friday, August 22, 2008

REPORTER: GINA M. SMITH, CSR, RPR

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JOB NO. 204901c

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1	Q.	Did the $5,000 fee have anything to do with state law?
2	A.	No, nor does the 2,500 fee.
3	Q.	Does the commercial office requirement, is that
4		required by state law?
5	A.	The term "commercial" is not. And previous state law,
6		they said "comply with the municipal zoning laws," but
7		that was left off the last time or last two times the
8		law was revised.
9	Q.	Is the -- so is the current version of the South
10		Carolina Real Estate Law, is that something that
11		requires licensees to have commercial offices?
12	A.	It does not.
13	Q.	If you look at Article 4, that's the active
14		involvement requirement?
15	A.	Right.
16	Q.	That's at the bottom of page 2 of Government
17		Exhibit 9.
18	A.	That's correct.
19	Q.	What are the reasons for the -- what are the CMLS'
20		reasons for the active involvement requirement?
21	A.	I probably can speak to that as well as anybody on the
22		MLS board.
23		When we were rewriting or updating the rules and
24		regulations, we looked at state law, and state law
25		requires a broker, I don't know, probably to do a

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1		hundred different things.
2		We wanted to protect the consumer and, my belief,
3		to improve the professionalism of our industry.
4		Coming from a military background, I thought
5		professionalism and ethics was very, very important.
6		And we looked at state law, and we thought that,
7		at a minimum, the agent or company had an obligation,
8		legal obligation, to market, sell and close the
9		property.
10	Q.	Are there any other reasons?
11	A.	No. The reason was to improve the professionalism and
12		to abide by state law.
13		I mean, it's my belief -- and you can correct me
14		if I'm wrong -- that NAR and DOJ has already agreed .
15		that it's okay to have that verbiage in MLS agreements
16		now that the MLS member be actively involved
17		So I believe that's really not an issue anymore,
18		if DOJ and NAR has already agreed to that. And I may
19		be wrong. I just read things off a web site.
20	Q.	What web site are you talking about?
21	A.	It's one of those real estate web sites. I'm not sure
22		whether it's RIS Media or, you know, Real Trends,
23		or -- there's several web sites to report real estate
24		information.
25		I believe that was also told to me by the

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1	CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
2
3	I, GINA M. SMITH, CSR, RPR, Notary Public, do
4	hereby certify that RON ROE was duly sworn by me on
5	August 22, 2008, prior to the taking of the foregoing
6	deposition; that said deposition was taken and transcribed
7	under my supervision and direction; that the parties were
8	present as stated; and that I am not of counsel for or in
9	the employment of any of the parties to this action, nor am
10	I interested in the outcome of this action.
11	I do further certify that the foregoing 79 pages
12	constitute a true and accurate transcript of the testimony.
13	IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I hereunto subscribe my name this
14	the 4th day of September 2008.
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17	_______________/s/________________
18	GINA M. SMITH, CSR, RPR
19	Notary Public
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23	My Commission Expires:
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25	July 23, 2013

Updated August 14, 2015