In a concerning incident in Memphis, USA, an Airbnb host, Pamela Fohler, is facing a lawsuit for allegedly blackmailing a guest, Shawn Mackey, by sending a photo to his wife that depicted him with another woman during his stay at her Airbnb property. The incriminating photo was captured by a CCTV camera installed at the premises.
Shawn Mackey has taken legal action against Pamela Fohler, who holds the title of an Airbnb “superhost.” In his 22-page lawsuit, Shawn asserts that Pamela attempted to extort an additional $960 in fees (roughly Rs 80,000) from him after he left a negative review of his experience at her Airbnb accommodation.
In his lawsuit, Shawn alleges that Pamela’s actions constituted intentional invasion of privacy, infliction of emotional distress, and subjecting him to public ridicule, with the specific intent to damage his marriage. This disturbing incident highlights the importance of safeguarding guests’ privacy and the potential consequences of unethical behaviour by hosts in the short-term rental industry.
The lawsuit mentions that Shawn had rented the house back in September 2022 for four guests and had mentioned that he was expecting a few more guests for dinner. The host told Shawn that he could invite additional guests. The three-bedroom house that Shawn had rented could accommodate 12 people.
However, once Shawn’s guests began arriving, Pamela reportedly tracked back and said that he could only have eight people and there would be an additional cost per person regardless of whether they stayed the night.
Later Pamela messaged Shawn and demanded that he “either add the extra guests now or have them leave immediately.” She also claimed to have received complaints from neighbours about partying and “disturbances, yelling and profanity in the parking area.” Mackey claims that such accusations were “unfounded”.
Pamela later asked Shawn to vacate her property. However, Shawn was allowed to stay the night after he spoke to Pamela’s husband. After checking out the next day, Shawn left a negative review for Pamela’s Airbnb service and demanded a partial refund.
Instead of responding to Shawn’s request for a partial refund, Airbnb denied his request. Since then, Shawn claims that Pamela has been harassing him and asked him to pay additional charges for having guests over.
A few days after Shawn refused to pay the extra charges, Pamela sent him a text with photos from the CCTV camera that showed him alongside another woman. The text read, “Hello Shawn, hope you are well. Sorry, it took so long to get the photos you requested together to show your stay at our home. But I had faith, and was driven by integrity, so I committed to get these posted for you and Airbnb. Photo at 3.16 am is especially notable. Should I forward the photos and videos to Teresa or will you? The videos will come shortly. I think they are too big for text so I will post to YouTube.” She later sent these photos to Shawn’s wife using a fake email address.
According to Dexerto, in response to this lawsuit, Airbnb has filed a motion to compel arbitration, while Pamela has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
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