RealPage, Inc. v. James (First Amendment Challenge to NY Algorithmic Rent-Pricing Law)
RealPage told the S.D.N.Y. court weighing its First Amendment challenge to New York's algorithmic rent-pricing ban that an August 5 Second Circuit ruling striking down a NYC food-delivery data-sharing law as unconstitutional compelled speech supports its own case. The New York Attorney General's office pushed back within days, arguing the food-delivery ruling addressed forced disclosure of customer data and has no bearing on a statute that regulates how landlords may set rents rather than compelling any disclosure. The presiding judge has not yet ruled on RealPage's pending preliminary-injunction motion or the state's motion to dismiss. On September 29, 2026, Judge Valerie Caproni granted RealPage's motion for a preliminary injunction and denied the state's motion to dismiss, finding RealPage "marginally" likely to succeed on the merits of its First Amendment claim.
Why it matters
The dispute over how far the Second Circuit's compelled-speech reasoning extends sits at the center of nearly every pending challenge to algorithmic-pricing bans nationwide, including the tenant suits against RealPage's landlord customers already tracked here in Philadelphia and San Diego. A ruling accepting RealPage's framing would hand software vendors and landlords a strong new constitutional defense against similar restrictions; a ruling siding with the Attorney General would leave New York's ban, and the broader legislative trend behind it, on firmer footing.
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