NextDoor, a hyperlocal social networking app operator, has filed a lawsuit against real estate management firm Jones Lang LaSalle.
The suit alleges that JLL engaged in double-dealing after NextDoor hired the firm to help find a new headquarters in San Francisco.
According to the complaint, JLL and one of its employees, Derek Johnson, failed to disclose a secret commission agreement with the landlord that owned the property NextDoor was considering for its new HQ. The complaint identifies Johnson as an executive managing director at JLL.
The agreement allegedly prioritized the interests of JLL, Johnson, and the landlord over those of NextDoor.
The lawsuit claims that this undisclosed agreement resulted in NextDoor paying substantially more rent each month for non-existent space, totaling $20 million in additional rent over the life of the lease.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring JLL to pay unspecified actual and punitive damages, plus attorney fees.
They are also seeking a court order "prohibiting JLL from accepting any commission payments that are contingent, in whole or in part, upon securing certain terms for a party other than its client in a real estate transaction, unless JLL expressly and fully discloses to its client in writing, before the transaction is complete, the nature and amount of the contingent commission."
The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court in November, but was removed to San Francisco federal court on Dec. 12.
NextDoor is represented in the action by attorneys Morgan W. Tovey, Ryan Landes and Dakota S. Speas, of the firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, of San Francisco and Los Angeles.