Airbnb is a company that defies definition and because of this it threatens traditional real estate brokers. To slow down the busy travel platform, different groups have filed class action suits against it. Interestingly, the plaintiffs are not in the travel industry and are not competitors. The plaintiffs are real estate brokers who claim that Airbnb is harming their businesses.
Why bring class action suits against Airbnb?
One such case is Parker Madison Partners v. Airbnb (16-cv-0839). In this case Parker Madison has not shown any type injury that courts usually require to bring a suit of this nature to fruition. Park Madison has not yet shown how Airbnb is harming its brokers in any material or financial way.
Prior to the Parker Madison suit, Airbnb was sued in Plazza v. Airbnb. In this suit, which happened to be the second one from the same group, nothing came of it as Airbnb moved to arbitration. The argument is that the lawyers who represented Plazza simply wanted to attack Airbnb and contrived the suit to do it.
Why Airbnb was allowed have it dismissed
In the latest suit, which involved Parker Madison, the US District Judge Vernon Broderick allowed Airbnb to dismiss the case. Judge Broderick decided that Parker Madison did not have any standing that merited a case against the travel site. The brokers at Parker Madison wanted to bring a class action suit against Airbnb.
