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US: A San Francisco Superior Court Judge has overruled a demurrer by Airbnb to dismiss a case brought by the parents of an 18-year-old boy who was killed in a shooting at an illegal party at a California listing that was rented out via the platform.
Elias Elhania was shot dead at a party in a home in Sunnyvale, California on 7 August 2021. Last week, almost three years to the day, The Hon. Charles F. Haines turned down Airbnb’s request to dismiss the case brought by Elhania’s parents, who blame the platform for their son’s death.
An estimated 150 to 200 people attended the party that night, which was advertised on social media, and most of them were under the age of 21. It is believed that the house’s neighbours called the police to make a noise complaint about the party and stated that they were afraid for their safety, with the police arriving soon after to find that the owner was absent.
Gunshots were then reported about an hour and a half later, prompting the police to enter the property, however the young adult was declared deceased at the scene.
The case, which is listed as Elhania v. Airbnb, Inc., can now proceed in court against Airbnb and the individual property owner who rented out the listing.
According to a report on ACCESSWIRE, it will be the first case in US history where Airbnb could potentially be found to be legally responsible for a victim’s death from a shooting at a party in a listing advertised on the platform.
While shootings have not been too rare occurrences at short-term rental properties, particularly in the USA, Airbnb has to date successfully dismissed similar cases by arguing that it cannot be held legally responsible as injuries at parties cannot be foreseen and it itself is merely a platform that connects renters and property owners [as per Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act].
In this case, however, San Francisco-based lawyer Teresa Li, who is representing the victim’s parents in the case, has argued that Airbnb violated the local city ordinance regulating short-term rentals, which were specifically drawn up to protect renters from potential harm. Violations quoted in the case include the rental being illegal, the owner not being on site throughout the stay, and Airbnb renting the unit to an unaccompanied minor.
Li further alleged that the victim’s death was foreseeable, given that more than 250 people had been shot in short-term rental properties [some in Airbnbs] in the two years leading up to the incident in question.
In the oral argument, Airbnb argues that because it conducts business in many cities, counties and countries whose laws vary to different extents, it is impossible to determine what the law is or how to comply with it. In addition, the home-sharing firm says that the local law in California does not apply to Airbnb itself, but to property owners / managers / hosts.
The judge rejected Airbnb’s argument and ruled that the company can be held liable for shooting victims at Airbnb parties if the rental property is found to violate a local ordinance that protects the public’s health, safety or welfare from disorderly conduct.
Li told ACCESSWIRE: “No one is above the law, especially a global company like Airbnb. The Court, in its wisdom, saw to it that this is the case. I hope this ruling will change the way Airbnb conducts its business and short-term rentals will be safer for everyone, so that Elias did not die in vain.”
A year before the shooting in Sunnyvale, Airbnb issued a global blanket ban on all parties and events being held in properties on its platform, including limiting the total occupants in a property to 16, with the exception of certain venues. That ban was later made a permanent policy in June 2022.
Airbnb had first attempted to limit the impact of parties in 2019, after a fatal shooting incident at a property last year in the Californian city of Orinda, near San Francisco. As a consequence, it banned so-called ‘party houses’, set up a 24/7 hotline for locals to report unlawful activity, and prevented under-25s in the UK, France and Spain from renting entire homes after successful trials in the USA and Canada.
Those bans have failed to eradicate shootings completely at Airbnb-rented listings, and in March, the company issued a fresh global ban on the use of indoor security cameras at its listings, as it sought to prioritise guest safety and privacy, as well as respond to increasing security concerns.
