Judge Dismisses Antitrust Lawsuit Against UWM's 'All In' Initiative and CEO Mat Ishbia

A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage of violating antitrust laws by pressuring brokers to stop doing business with rivals, leading to unfair business practices.

U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Berger in Jacksonville, Florida, accepted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to dismiss the case against UWM and its CEO Mat Ishbia, saying the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence. Mortgage broker The O’Kavage Group, based in St. Augustine, Florida, filed the complaint in April 2021.

At the center of the lawsuit was UWM’s “All In” initiative, unveiled in March 2021 with an ultimatum that the lender would not work with brokers who continued to do business with rival Rocket Companies Inc. and Wisconsin-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. O’Kavage’s group argued that UWM’s initiative with brokers was an unfair business arrangement that would cause “harm to customers and the wholesale mortgage market.”

The court found that the plaintiff was unable to prove that the brokers entered into illegal agreements. On Friday, Berger dismissed the complaint without prejudice.

“Specifically, there is no factual allegation that the brokers were predisposed to concerted action in pursuit of an improper common goal, that they were told that the change would only be made with majority agreement, or that majority agreement was necessary to achieve the desired result,” Berger wrote. “In fact, the plaintiff specifically alleges that the defendants did not expect such a high acceptance rate among the brokers. There are only minimal allegations of resistance by dissenting brokers and no allegations that there was significant pressure among the brokers to accept the agreement.”

In an email sent by spokeswoman Nicole Roberts, the company said: “UWM’s victory in this frivolous lawsuit reaffirms that the allegations against us were baseless from the start. As we have stated from the beginning, the All In initiative benefits both the broker network and consumers, which is evident in the brokers’ increasing market share over the past several years. The accusations that All In was harmful have always been false, and this court decision further underscores that reality.”

Attorneys for O’Kavage’s group did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

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