served with lawsuit alleging Fair Housing Act violation

[Gino7]

Today I received a summons to appear in DC court and complaint for "discriminating towards children" because we checked a box in airbnb's site "not suitable for infants (under 2 years)" .  Anyone else receive this? Can someone from Airbnb contact us please to assist with responding? Thank you

[Donna15]

@Gino7, that sounds pretty scary.

You should contact AirBnB immediately..

You can reach them via the Help link at bottom of this page.

Or via Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/?fref=ts

Or – if you have a Twitter account - try twitter@airbnbhelp. It’s said there’s a quick response.

Essential reading for hosts.

Contains a link with several international phone numbers (‘Contact AirBnB’).

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/Community-Help-Guides/m-p/23100#U23100

Here’s the number for Canada and the US.

+1 (415) 800 5959 / +1 855 424 7262 (emergency toll-free number)

[Linda108]

WOW!  This is disturbing and I hope you will work with Air BNB legal to address the suit.  Please keep the host community informed along the way.  Also, I notice there is a DC Home Sharing Club that you can join and it might be a good idea to bring this to the attention of hosts in your area.  Good Luck!!

[David126]

I am intrigued to see to what extent ABB would get involved, they are when it comes to it just a booking service, your responsibility to comply with laws etc.

Anyway let us know what happens.

[Gino7]

Not good publicity for Airbnb if anyone who just checks their box that says "not suitable for children under 2" is subject to being sued.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

How did they get your address?  Someone just looking at the Airbnb site cannot access this information.  

[Gino7]

That is a good question.

[Gino7]

It seems as though this "person" has filed many of these before against people who rent, hoping that someone will just pay to settle.

[Fred13]

Ah, this is in the 'Land of Frivolous Lawsuits' (US), that explains it.

[Sheri32]

Hello,

was wondering if you got this lawsuit dropped?

thanks.

[David-and-Fiona0]

God bless America : ( 

[Louise47]

I think it is someone trying to frighten you into paying them money.. You can't be sued if your house is not set up for under2  what if you allowed them to come and you had stairs or a pool they could drown in.. Get Airbnb onto it but to me it is a scam.. What gets me is how did they get your address.. Keep us informed please.

[Maria544]

Hello Gino and Steve,

I have a house in Florida I list on Airbnb and I believe I am being sued by the same individual, and for the same reason. .

I found out that the same guy, ***, is suing dozens of other people in Florida and Washington DC. It looks like we and many others are being the victim of the same person.

I contacted Airbnb twice to know what to do, but they have not replied to me. I know they received my complaint because they sent me a standard email acknowledging it and saying they would 'reply to me'. That was the last I heard from Airbnb. 

I wonder how this person got my address, I can't help feeling stalked. Shouldn't Airbnb help me out? They don't seem to think so. 

Please see my post below:

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Regulations-and-Taxes/Being-sued-in-federal-court/m-p/214966/thread-...

This is the public information regarding the other lawsuits by the same individual. I have no idea who he is, he never tried to rent my house and never contacted me.  

***

Feel free to contact me.

Maria

[Amy38]

 @Maria544your post on the community board i not going to ABNB...they dont read this, it is a chat room for hosts.

[Bradford0]

I too have had the suit filed against me by *** of Rockville, MD by way of his attorney ***.

I recently called NBC to report that this duo has filed dozens upon dozens of lawuits for the same thing requesting a settlement amount. NBC has come to my home, filmed a segment on my story and they are currently looking for both *** and *** to catch them on camera and find out why they are filing serial suits and requesting money. It won't be too long until they are exposed for what they are doing. 

If you'd like to share your side of the story with the executive producer over at NBC 4, just reach out to me and I'll give him your information. I'm sure he'd like to catch a few more interviews before the air date of this story.