ZILLOW & MOVE SETTLE

Trade secret case

Zillow has agreed to pay $130 million to Move Inc. and the National Association of Realtors to settle their bitterly contested trade-theft suit.

The settlement, announced Monday, resolves all trade-theft claims that Move brought against Zillow after two key Move executives jumped to the online real estate competitor in March 2014.

The case, which once sought $2 billion in damages, was scheduled to go to trial on Monday in Washington state’s King County Superior Court.

Move had also filed against the two former executives — Errol Samuelson and Curt Beardsley — charging them as well with stealing trade secrets and then covering their tracks by destroying incriminating evidence.

Samuelson admitted to buying a hard drive for his Move-issued laptop and copying work files onto it. But he said his decision to return it with a “clone” drive was motivated by a desire to protect personal information.

Beardsley confirmed he wiped data from two company-issued computers and destroyed a hard drive once connected to Move’s internal network by smashing it against a wall — all in service, he testified, of trying to cover up his hardcore pornography habit.

Move is part of News Corp., which also owns The Post. News Corp. agreed to acquire the online real estate company six months after Move filed suit against Zillow in March 2014.

At a “spoliation” hearing last month to determine if the destruction of evidence was too great to allow a fair trial, Judge Sean O’Donnell ruled against a default sanction. But he determined Beardsley’s behavior warranted an “adverse instruction,” which would have allowed Move and NAR to inform the jury that missing evidence would have advanced their case or undermined Beardsley’s defense.

The agreement, which doesn’t contain any admission of wrongdoing, calls for NAR to receive 10 percent of the settlement after Move deducts litigation costs and related fees, according to a filing by News Corp. The remainder will go to Move.

“We look forward to putting the matter to rest and returning our full focus to simplifying the real estate process for consumers and the real estate professionals who serve them,” Move said in a statement.

Zillow stated the settlement “allows us to put this litigation behind us and continue our focus on innovation and the huge opportunity in front of us as the consumer-focused market leader.”