The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that a couple’s lawsuit against Airbnb Inc. over the secret videotaping of a host at a vacation rental home should go to an arbitrator. According to State Supreme Court Justice Ricky Polston 6-1, the couple signed an Airbnb user agreement that required an arbitrator, not a judge, to decide whether the disagreement could be fought in court. court.
Source – The Edge
The move is a victory for the online property rental company in its efforts to prevent user lawsuits from going to court. The Texas couple, who go by the pseudonyms John and Jane Doe, say they booked a condo in Longboat Key through Airbnb. The condo owner allegedly used hidden cameras to capture their entire three-day visit, including encounters the lower court described as private and intimate.
The Does sued the owner and Airbnb after learning of the recordings, saying Airbnb should have alerted them to similar privacy breaches at other homes and should have ensured that the Longboat Key property did not contain any hidden cameras. Airbnb asked the trial court to compel arbitration, and the court agreed, allowing the arbitrator to choose the best forum for the couple to pursue their claim.
In a split decision, the Intermediate Court backtracked, finding that the User Agreement’s reference to arbitration proceedings was not clear enough to imply the couple’s consent. The trial judge’s decision was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court, which said the mid-court decision was an “outlier.”
According to him, the inclusion of the AAA rules “clearly and unambiguously demonstrates the intention of the parties to empower an arbitrator” to decide whether the case should be tried in court or by arbitration. According to him, the court joined all federal appeals courts that heard the case.
Airbnb, Inc. is an American company that operates an online marketplace for housing and tourism business, primarily homestays for vacation rentals. The platform, based in San Francisco, California, is available through a website and a mobile app.
Airbnb does not own any of the advertised homes; instead, he earns money through commissions on each booking. Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia started the company in 2008. Airbnb is a shortened version of AirBedandBreakfast.com, which was the company’s original name.
The company has been chastised for facilitating baiting and swapping schemes, participating in West Bank settlements, possibly raising house rents and causing nuisance to residents living near rented properties. Many governments regulate the business, including the European Union and cities like San Francisco and New York.
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