10.56 Making False or Misleading Statements about Competitors

Company policy is not to slander or make false or misleading statements about competitors to anyone. By making false, derogatory or misleading statements about competitors agents open up the agent and the Company to potential liability such as a slander lawsuit. Due to the highly competitive nature of the real estate business, a standard of practice was added prohibiting licensees from making or repeating false or misleading statements about their competitors in order to obtain an advantage. REALTOR® Code of Ethics Standard of Practice 15-2 states:

• “The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading statements about other real estate professionals, their businesses and their business practices includes the duty to not knowingly or recklessly publish, repeat, retransmit, or republish false or misleading statements made by others. This duty applies whether false or misleading statements are repeated in person, in writing, by technological means (e.g., the Internet), or by any other means.”