Buxbaum v. Zillow Group, Inc.
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-00297
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Buxbaum v. Zillow Group, Inc., Judge Swain dismissed Michael Buxbaum’s duplicate complaint against Zillow.
Michael Buxbaum’s complaint against Zillow Group, Inc. was dismissed as duplicative; the claims in the earlier pending case were not dismissed by this order.
What happened
Buxbaum v. Zillow Group, Inc. concerns Michael Buxbaum’s request for an order requiring Zillow to list specific properties throughout New York State as “for sale by owner.” He relied on diversity jurisdiction but did not pay the filing fees or submit an application to waive them.
The court found that Buxbaum’s complaint raised the same claims as an earlier, still-pending case against Zillow. The court also noted that Buxbaum had filed two other cases against Zillow involving the same claims and had filed approximately 23 cases against various defendants since December 9, 2024 without paying fees or requesting a waiver.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed this complaint as duplicative, without prejudice to the claims in the earlier case. She also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Buxbaum v. Zillow Group, Inc. · No. 1:25-cv-00297
- Laura Swain
- Jan. 17, 2025
Background
Michael Buxbaum, appearing without a lawyer, sued Zillow Group, Inc. He sought an order requiring Zillow to list specific properties located throughout New York State on its website as “for sale by owner.” Buxbaum invoked diversity jurisdiction. He did not pay the filing fees and did not submit an application to proceed without paying them.
Reason for Dismissal
The court determined that Buxbaum had already filed a substantially similar complaint against Zillow seeking an order concerning the same properties. That earlier case, No. 24-CV-10054 (LTS), was pending before the court. The court had directed Buxbaum in that earlier case to pay the fees or request that they be waived.
The court also noted that Buxbaum had filed two additional actions against Zillow involving the same claims. One of those actions, No. 25-CV-0225 (LTS), had recently been dismissed as duplicative of the earlier case. The court further stated that, since December 9, 2024, Buxbaum had filed approximately 23 cases against various defendants without requesting permission to proceed without paying fees or paying the fees.
Because this case raised the same claims as the pending earlier case, the court concluded that litigating this duplicate lawsuit would serve no useful purpose.
Disposition
The court dismissed the complaint as duplicative, without prejudice to the claims raised in the earlier case. The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal. The clerk was directed to enter judgment in this action.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order on January 17, 2025.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.