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The owner of a Malibu mansion where a 22-year-old San Diego college student burned to death in 2021 has filed a $50 million lawsuit against booking-company Tripadvisor and two of its subsidiaries, alleging they should have shown more care in leasing her home to a woman who allowed more guests than allowed for an event that featured potentially risky sky lanterns.
Erin Hughes brought the negligence suit Jan. 17 in Los Angeles Superior Court, four years after the death on that same date in 2021 of Grant Schneider. Hughes is the landlord of the Rambla Pacifico Street property where the inferno occurred. In addition to Tripadvisor, the suit also names as defendants Flipkey LLC and Holiday Lettings Ltd., both owned by the online platform, as well as an individual, Holly Seeler, identified in the suit as the person who booked the lease of Hughes’ scenic home.
A Tripadvisor representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Unknown to Hughes, Seeler violated the lease agreement by not limiting the number of guests to two and instead bringing some 20 people into the home who stayed overnight, the suit states.
Seeler was holding an event called a “Celebration of Life” for Jack Fisher, her late son, according to the suit.
Tripadvisor and its subsidiaries failed to enforce the rental agreement or terminate it, according to the suit, which further alleges that sheriff’s deputies were called because of “rambunctious behavior” after hours that included loud noise as well as people smoking in the house and a display of sky lanterns.
“The fires caused by sky lanterns are prevalent and have caused large damage in California including the Avila Beach fire in September 2023 as well as a fire in Santa Rosa in 2016, and they pose a danger to aviation traffic,” the suit states.
Hughes’ house rules also called for Seeler to pay $100 for each guest in excess of what the rental agreement allowed, the suit further states.
Hughes was named in a separate lawsuit filed in 2021 by Schneider’s father, Brad Schneider, who alleges Hughes’ home had an inadequate number of smoke detectors and/or smoke detectors that were inoperable, according to the suit.
Tripadvisor and Holiday Lettings “failed to disclose any information relating to whether they vetted the … property, thereby misrepresenting and/or concealing material facts and perpetuating an illusion that the property was safe, and inducing rental of the property which led to the decedent’s death,” the Brad Schneider suit states.
Grant Schneider, a San Diego Mesa College student, was unaware that the home allegedly was unsafe because of the problem with the fire detectors, so the fire was not immediately detected and he was unable to escape in time, the Brad Schneider suit states.
Seeler filed a similar suit against Hughes and other defendants in 2021 concerning the Hughes’ home’s alleged lack of enough operating smoke detectors as well as fire extinguishers.