Ceola Hall has filed a lawsuit against Airbnb, Inc., Airbnb Payments, Inc., and Airbnb Travel, LLC following the tragic death of her son, Courtez Hall. The complaint was lodged in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco on October 22, 2024. The case centers around allegations that Courtez Hall died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a defective gas-powered water heater at an Airbnb rental property in Mexico City on October 30, 2022.
The plaintiff, Ceola Hall, who is acting as the personal representative of her son's estate, accuses Airbnb of negligence and premises liability. According to the complaint, Courtez Hall was staying at an Airbnb property with friends Jordan Marshall and Kandace Florence when they were all fatally poisoned by carbon monoxide. The suit claims that the property lacked a functioning carbon monoxide detector and that Airbnb failed to ensure the safety of its guests despite being aware of similar incidents in the past. "Airbnb knew or should have known that those staying at its host’s premises abroad were at risk," states the complaint.
The lawsuit highlights multiple previous incidents where guests suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning at Airbnb properties worldwide. Despite these occurrences and acknowledging the risks in 2014, Airbnb allegedly did not enforce mandatory installation of carbon monoxide detectors across its listings. Instead, it offered an optional program for hosts to obtain one free detector per property. This alleged negligence forms part of the basis for Ceola Hall's wrongful death claim against Airbnb.
In seeking justice for her son’s untimely death, Ceola Hall demands special and general damages exceeding $35,000 as well as compensation for funeral expenses and other related costs. She also seeks interest on economic damages from the date of death and reasonable attorney fees under applicable law.
Representing Ceola Hall are attorneys Timothy A. Loranger and Matthew P. French from Wisner Baum LLP; Pedro Echarte and Michael Haggard from The Haggard Law Firm; Christopher Stewart and Michael Roth from Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys. The case is identified under Case No: CGC-24-619158 in front of Judge Sahar.