Airbnb in legal settlement talks with New York City
US: Airbnb is reportedly in talks with New York City to arrange a legal settlement surrounding the disclosure of host information through the home-sharing platform, according to Bloomberg.
The legal battles between both parties have been well documented and bitterly disputed in a long-running saga, since New York City Council passed a law in 2018 requiring platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway to disclose hosts’ information [including names and home addresses] on a monthly basis.
That ruling prompted the two platforms to sue the council in order to block the law. A federal judge then granted a preliminary injunction on the grounds that the law would violate the American Fourth Amendment, which provides protection against “illegal searches and seizures”.
Airbnb had originally accused the council of an “extraordinary act of government overreach”.
That injunction was underlined once again in a hearing that took place in October.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer told the counsel for the city: “If this is the grave problem that the city cares about, my gentle suggestion would be that creative minds ought to be thinking about other approaches that don’t, based on my initial assessment in the [preliminary injunction] opinion, so significantly entangle you in a Fourth Amendment problem.”
City & State New York reported Airbnb and New York City as saying in a joint filing last week that they would update Engelmayer on the progress of their settlement talks within the next 30 days.
