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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.
??? 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.
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 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.
“The host has personally licked all surfaces and can guarantee that there is no drug residue anywhere in the unit”.
Kinda like politicians drinking a glass of tap water to prove to residents that the toxic chemical spill next to their house is nothing to worry about.
Thank you for your research here.
[I was going to respond with faux criticism that it would be nice if just once in a while you would come up with facts and not just shoot from the hips something that ‘someone’ told you years ago. 
But not funny enough.]
It is interesting that the theory that the plaintiffs are using in the case is that the employer is generally liable for the acts/omissions of employees but ALSO independent contractors under one (or more) of three theories: 1) the principal (Airbnb) failed to properly vet, supervise the independent contractor, 2) the activity is non-delegable and a duty is owed to the public or 3) the work is inherently dangerous.
This really is a shocking case.
A nineteen month old child checks into an Airbnb that had been/is a party house. The little girl never leaves the premises and the next day takes a nap and is found dead of fentanyl.
Less than one month earlier the police were called to this Airbnb for a party, where the guest count of seven was exceeded. Just a week or so before there was a weekend reservation for six adults but there were 12 people there (this guest is alleged to have brought drugs to the property). [This is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home.]
It will be very interesting to see if Airbnb is held liable though I suspect that Airbnb would be heavily incentivized to settle and not let a trial court come out with a ruling that Airbnb is liable for the actions/omissions of its Host.
I am supposing that this area of the law – vicarious liability – will emerge more and more of an issue as companies hire ‘gig’ workers and thereby skirt not just taxes and employee work conditions but also many traditional remedies that have evolved over the years to protect the public and consumer.
I just today read here in the forum of some properties that do advertise parties and events despite Airbnb’s ‘no party or event’ rule. Reading this complaint reminds the Host that if a guest uses certain drugs the results could be fatal to the next guest.
One takeaway is for sure to uphold the ‘no party’ rule (that means cameras, maybe more) for Airbnb reservations. [If you choose to permit parties, say on VRBO, you probably need some kind of writing on what is permitted/prohibited.]. Another takeaway is to have a very thorough cleaning if the Host has any reason to believe drugs might have been used on the property. Perhaps a third (but seems toothless) thing to do is to make sure you have a rule against all illegal activity, including drug use.
Imagine you were a juror in this case. A 19-month old is dead. The Airbnb property had apparently been a party house. Police were called there just in the prior month. Guests are making weekend reservations for 7+, a dozen people for a weekend stay in a 4 bedroom home.
Of course, the jurors will hear all the details. Wouldn’t you as the juror want someone ‘to pay’ for this? Should it be just the Hosts? Shouldn’t “deep pockets’ be tapped? It’s a civil case. No one is going to jail (so far). The standard of proof is not ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ but 'more likely than not.” What do you think you might do as a juror?
There doesn’t have to be a party for guests to be using drugs in the house. You could just as easily have a single guest who was using. Fentanyl and crack aren’t just party drugs, in fact, they most often are not, I would hazard a guess.
I agree.
But here the facts look like the plaintiffs will show that there was a party, maybe two in just the last month, and that drugs were used at at least one of those parties. So that’s a bad look on the Host defendants.
But you’re right, of course. It could be someone splitting a pill that they lose. So, as Hosts, we need to think about the ‘innocent’ situations where harm could arise.
This case does underscore the importance, maybe the life and death importance of cleanliness.
The case also underscores how ‘all’ will come out if there’s an accident.
Right or wrong, the question is how a juror will interpret actions/omissions in some things (e.g., in allowing parties, occupancy exceeding booked or maximum) to come to conclusion in other things.