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[Their toddler took a nap in an Airbnb — and fentanyl killed her - The Washington Post]
This article notes that a party in this AirBnB by a previous guest included cocaine.
I have found numerous prescription tablets and capsules on the floor after guests leave–including once after my housekeepers have supposedly vacuumed and mopped the floor.
Now I always look under all furniture and pull out low furniture to look for pills and crawl around looking specifically for pills.
How tragic. Definitely a good idea to check for errant pills if you don’t clean the Airbnb yourself. Fentanyl is not just an illegal street drug- it is used in some prescription pain medication, so not necessarily left behind by a previous partying guest.
However, I can’t imagine putting my child to bed in a strange place without checking to make sure there wasn’t anything there that shouldn’t be.
This is misleading clickbait!! From the article:
"No one knows how little Enora got hold of the synthetic opioid, which has besieged the nation’s drug supply and is so potent that a small amount can kill. Investigators were not able to find any evidence of the fentanyl anywhere else in the vacation rental. "
For sure, there seems to have been no evidence found in the Airbnb. Although they said they searched the parent’s belongings, that doesn’t mean they didn’t have some with them that they flushed before emergency personnel got there. I don’t know how a lawsuit could be successful if there was no evidence of where the child came in contact with it. “It must have been in the Airbnb because we don’t where else it could have been” doesn’t sound like it would hold up in court.
These ‘non stories’ could also be pumped up by the hotel cartel, you know.
I haven’t read the article (just got the gist from the comments here) but I don’t understand why they want to sue Airbnb?
Me too and the one thing I did find was a syringe. I gave the guest the benefit of the doubt and assumed she was diabetic or something but it would not have looked good for me if the next incoming guest found it.
I also armed myself with robot floor cleaners after that so they could fish out anything under the furniture.
From the article:
"What I want to show is Airbnb provided no cleanup, no warning, no measure of safety for the family.”
Of course, that’s ridiculous and will go nowhere. The parents’ lawyer doesn’t seem to be aware that Airbnb doesn’t employ cleaners, nor has he apparently read the TOS that states that hosts are considered to be independent contractors responsible for their own listings.
Once again, it seems that the general public and journalists have the weird idea that Airbnb is responsible for all its’ advertisers’ properties.
That was a quote from the lawyer, who should have done his research before proposing and stating that position.
Well, they seem to realize that. They are suing Airbnb, the host/property owner, the property management company and the prior guest who threw the party.
It’s an international news story that really did happen/is happening.
??? They are considering Airbnb responsible, but don’t seem to realize that while the case could be made that Airbnb has responsiblility for not shutting the listing down if they had been made aware that previous guests had thrown a party with illicit drugs involved, Airbnb has no responsibility for cleaning a property.
Thank you for sharing this.
I understand the parents suing ‘everyone.’ That’s really what they need to do to make sure that the ones who caused the harm are in the courtroom.
As to whether Airbnb should be liable, the discovery in the case might surface something. For example, if Airbnb were aware of parties at this house or issues of cleanliness, should they be liable? I don’t know.
I don’t know what the plaintiffs might be able to establish is ‘more likely than not,’ the typical standard in a civil case. They might well be able to establish that it was most likely that the child encountered the Fentanyl in the rental property.
From there, who knows how the case turns – what facts will surface? Have the owners been diligent in maintaining and cleaning the property? Or are there facts that show that the owners have not been diligent?
The Court might ask who should bear the burden on this poisoned child – the family, the Airbnb owner, Airbnb manager, prior partying guest or Airbnb?
Just because Airbnb hires hosts as independent contractors doesn’t mean that it has no potential liability. In a hospital all the ER doctors might be independent contractors from a separate firm the hospital hired. If one of them commits negligence, the hospital is going to be sued along with the doctor, the doctor’s firm and everyone else.
For now this story is a reminder – especially when we have any reason to expect that there has been partying – to make sure that our properties are thoroughly cleaned. It really might be a matter of life and death.
It’s a civil case, not a criminal case and it’s for wrongful death. So it’s not as straightforward as Airbnb not being responsible for cleaning a property. First of all, the party with the most money will always be named in this kind of lawsuit and second, a settlement is usually the goal anyway (and Airbnb is known for making settlements in similar cases). Although it doesn’t really sound possible that criminal charges will be brought, it’s easier to win a civil case and/or get a large settlement from the company named in the suit - but they have to sue to get the settlement. That’s just the nature of wrongful death suits.
The lawyer’s view is that Airbnb is aware of the Fentanyl issues in its listings and that it sets the policies and that its cleaning policies are not adequate for cleaning up Fentanyl. I found some background on the case on a Florida lawyer site, here’s what they are saying on it. I haven’t read the complaint yet but imagine it’s a summary of that:
Airbnb has known for years that drug use is prevalent in its properties, including those same properties that are rented out to families with children and infants. Airbnb possesses actual or constructive knowledge that it facilitates drug use in its rentals, as well as unchecked and uncontrolled parties where drug use occurs through its property sharing services.
Through its website’s community discussion boards, where hundreds of posts sound the alarm on drugs being used, sold, manufactured, and left behind in Airbnb properties, Airbnb possesses actual or constructive knowledge that the nationwide Fentanyl crisis has all but spilled over into its rentals. Airbnb knows full well that Fentanyl (a synthetic opioid that is 50-100 times stronger than morphine) is being used and found in rentals, and that it creates a fatal risk to unaware guests, especially infants.
Airbnb also possesses actual or constructive knowledge that the cleaning procedures it advertises and promotes for its rentals are insufficient to decontaminate a rental from fatal Fentanyl.
Despite that knowledge and its purported “global team of safety and security experts [with] a full range of safety practices,” Airbnb has never so much as warned guests and parents of the known risks of fatal drugs like Fentanyl they may encounter in their rentals, or implemented cleaning procedures that would come close to addressing that risk.
*Attorneys Thomas Scolaro and Adam Rose of Leesfield Scolaro are representing the family.
A copy of the complaint can be viewed here.*
So they are saying that Airbnb has a “duty to care”, which is the first step in proving liability in a wrongful death suit. To back up “duty to care” they are quoting Airbnb’s advertising of its safety and its cleaning policies, etc. And…OMG… they are using discussions from the CC to demonstrate Airbnb’s knowledge of the issues.
It’s very interesting all around.
Well, I guess that’s what Airbnb gets for its reassuring PR about things they actually have no control over.
omg I LOVE it when you become the conspiracy theorist. But it holds water, cos if the hotels are advertisers then they might put pressure on the media. Happens every day, that’s one reason why corporate media can’t be trusted anymore. They are also beholden to the followers, so if readers love these anti-abb stories, they’ll keep writing them.
and we’ve all clicked on it too…
I just hope this gets settled quickly so that we don’t get an update with new “fentanyl cleaning policies” next month 
Did you read the Complaint? I wondered if you knew any of the hosts they quoted (p 6-7).
I can’t really recall a lot of topics about drugs, but I also probably ignored them. there’s a lot!
Airbnb is not warning guests, are they supposed to be attaching something to all requests about dangerous drugs.
This is written as if Air has personal control over all rentals.
I was thinking exactly the same thing re the cleaning policy. And that you’d need drug sniffer dogs or a forensic team to make sure.
Never heard of any of those hosts.Gotta be real careful what you post on the CC.