The valuation-tech firm behind Google's new home-listing ads says Chapter 11 buys it time to collect on a decade-old trade secrets verdict, before a lender can sell it off
HouseCanary has spent nearly 10 years in court accusing a Rocket-owned title and valuation company of copying the automated valuation model at the heart of its business. Now, with a creditor trying to auction the company, the San Francisco firm is turning to federal bankruptcy protection to stay alive long enough to collect.
HouseCanary and five affiliated companies filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The debtors include HouseCanary Inc., its consumer platform ComeHome Inc., and House Canary New Jersey Inc., which is serving as the lead debtor in the jointly administered cases, according to Inman. Bloomberg gives the lead case number as 26-20766.
A race against the auctioneer
The timing wasn't a coincidence – it was near desperation. Secured creditor Ocean II PLO LLC that generally operates as an agent for lenders had scheduled a public foreclosure sale in California for the same day the petitions were filed. The collateral on offer covered substantially all of HouseCanary's assets, from receivables and bank accounts to equipment and certain IP-related payment rights.
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One major asset was left out. The foreclosure notice specifically excluded HouseCanary's Texas litigation claims, their proceeds and a litigation reserve account. That suggests those rights may sit under a separate financing or lien arrangement and could become a central fight in the bankruptcy.
Chief Executive Chris Rediger said in a court filing HouseCanary defaulted on a $30 million loan that came due in January. He said the company sought protection to stop the lender from seizing and selling the business before it can collect its jury award against Rocket subsidiary Amrock.
Ten years, two juries, one very expensive AVM
The dispute dates to the mid-2010s. A March 2026 jury found that Amrock breached a 2013 nondisclosure agreement and a 2015 software license that barred it from reverse-engineering or misusing HouseCanary's confidential information.
Amrock, then called Title Source, fired the first shot. It sued in April 2016 over the 2015 licensing deal, claiming HouseCanary had failed to deliver working software. HouseCanary countersued, and a Texas jury sided with it in March 2018.
That first verdict was enormous. The Bexar County jury awarded $235.4 million in damages plus $471.4 million in punitive damages. Judge David Canales later raised the total to just under $740 million with interest and fees.
Amrock pushed back hard. Former HouseCanary employees testified that the software didn't work and alleged collusion with an Amrock employee. HouseCanary said those witnesses had conflicts of interest, and a judge denied Amrock's bid for a new trial in January 2019. In June 2020, however, a Texas appellate court threw out the verdict over flaws in the jury charge.
The retrial went HouseCanary's way again, for less money. On March 6, 2026, a San Antonio jury awarded $175 million after a nearly four-week trial. That figure is before nearly ten years of prejudgment interest and attorney fees, according to HouseCanary's trial counsel, Susman Godfrey. HouseCanary now says the award could top $260 million with interest and costs if it survives appeal. Court papers show Amrock intends to appeal again.
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Amrock itself no longer exists under that name. Rocket's 2025 rebrand turned it into Rocket Close, part of a brand consolidation that retired the Amrock name.
The fight at a glance
- 2013–2015: The companies sign an NDA, then a software license.
- April 2016: Title Source (Amrock) sues HouseCanary, and HouseCanary countersues.
- March 2018: A jury awards HouseCanary $706.2 million. The judgment later rises to about $740 million.
- June 2020: A Texas appeals court reverses the verdict.
- March 2026: A retrial jury awards $175 million. Amrock plans to appeal.
- September 2026: HouseCanary files Chapter 11 on the day of a scheduled foreclosure sale.
Inside the filing
According to Bloomberg, HouseCanary plans to borrow up to $15 million to keep operating during the case. It has 37 employees, most of them remote, and its platform covers more than 136 million US residential properties for clients including lenders, investment banks and real estate investors.
The company has lined up a restructuring team. Filing records show it retained Dentons as bankruptcy counsel, Getzler Henrich & Associates as financial advisor and Omni Agent Solutions as claims agent. HouseCanary Inc.'s petition lists between 100 and 199 creditors.
The largest unsecured claims include Marbruck Investments Limited, Alpaca Built World Fund I LP and Black Knight Technologies. National Association of Realtors, Amazon Web Services, Google Ads and Facebook Ads are also among the top 30.
The balance sheet is still coming into focus. One filing listed more than $50 million in assets and at least $50 million in liabilities across the debtors. A bankruptcy tracker noted that some affiliates report liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. A status conference is set for Nov. 12.
Why lenders should care
For mortgage shops, this is more than just another courtroom drama. HouseCanary sells valuation data and forecasts to financial institutions and lenders, and a vendor in Chapter 11 raises practical questions about continuity of service.
It also comes at a time when regulators are watching AVMs closely. Six federal agencies, including the CFPB, OCC, Fed, FDIC, NCUA and FHFA, adopted a final rule setting quality control standards for AVMs used by mortgage originators and secondary market issuers to value a borrower's principal dwelling.
The rule took effect in October 2025. It requires lenders to maintain policies and controls that ensure confidence in AVM estimates, protect data, avoid conflicts of interest, require random sample testing and comply with nondiscrimination laws. The CFPB's rule page has compliance aids.
The rule doesn't mention vendor bankruptcy. Still, lenders relying on any single valuation provider would be wise to confirm their backup AVM arrangements, review contract terms on service continuity and data access, and document the change for their quality-control program if they need to switch.
What happens to the Google listings?
The bankruptcy also clouds one of the year's most watched real estate tech experiments. On June 11, HouseCanary announced a national expansion of its Google partnership, putting listings from participating MLSs into Google's mobile search results through its ComeHome marketplace.
The rollout was bumpy. An earlier test was pulled back after critics objected to HouseCanary using its brokerage status to pull MLS data without prior consent, and it relaunched with MLS and brokerage buy-in. By late June, Bright MLS had become the fourth MLS to sign on.
Wall Street took notice early. When the pilot first surfaced, Zillow shares tumbled on news that Google was testing listings in search, and Rocket, which owns Redfin, fell 2.8%.
That puts Rocket in an unusual position. It is the parent of the company fighting a nine-figure judgment, and it is also a portal owner exposed to the Google channel HouseCanary helped build.
For a lender that now originates roughly one in six US mortgages, the Amrock appeal joins a crowded legal docket. That docket includes a proposed class action alleging Rocket steered homebuyers into its own loans.
HouseCanary hasn't said publicly whether the Google program will continue while it restructures.
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