HomeAway Loses Bid to Withhold Short-Term Renters' Info From SF Tax Officials
Short-term rental platform HomeAway.com Inc. has lost out on a bid to overturn an order forcing the company to hand over information about San Francisco…
March 29, 2018 at 05:57 PM
3 minute read
Short-term rental platform HomeAway.com Inc. has lost out on a bid to overturn an order forcing the company to hand over information about San Francisco property owners who use the website to list rentals.
HomeAway's lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher had argued a subpoena from the city of San Francisco asking for information including the names, addresses and contact information of residents who rent out property on the site was too broad. The Gibson lawyers also contended that enforcing the subpoena would impinge customers' First Amendment rights and violate provisions of the Stored Communications Act—the federal law which restricts the government's ability to compel disclosure of data stored by an internet service provider.
But in a 20-page order filed March 15 and certified for publication Wednesday, the First District Court of Appeal turned back HomeAway's arguments, finding that city tax collector was acting within its authority under the California constitution. The court held the city's request was authorized under the SCA since the subpoena wasn't seeking the contents of any communications by HomeAway customers.
“If HomeAway has collected information about its users that is covered by the subpoena, it cannot withhold that information from the City simply because that information might also be included in the content of a user's electronic communication,” wrote Presiding Justice Ignazio “Nace” Ruvolo. “By the same token, to the extent HomeAway has exercised some right to mine the electronic communications stored on its system, the information it has extracted for its own business uses would not meet the definition of an electronic communication stored on an ISP service.”
Ruvolo was joined in the opinion by Justices Timothy Reardon and Jon Streeter,
Representatives of HomeAway and Gibson Dunn's Helgi Walker didn't immediately respond to emails on Thursday.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office handled the case, said in an emailed statement that HomeAway has to operate under rules that apply to all San Francisco businesses. “We're pleased the courts have once again affirmed that you don't get special treatment just because your business happens to use the internet. A level playing field benefits all San Franciscans,” Herrera said.
The First District decision upholds an October 2016 ruling by a San Francisco superior judge allowing the city to enforce the subpoena. The subpoena predates HomeAway's settlement with the city in separate litigation that challenged San Francisco's ordinance threatening short-term rental companies with steep fines for listing properties not registered with the city. In May 2017, HomeAway and Airbnb agreed to take steps to make sure people who use their platforms complied with the local law designed to keep owners from converting units for full-time residents into vacation rentals.
Lawyers from Davis Wright Tremaine represented HomeAway in the ordinance case and at the lower court in the matter that was the subject of the First District ruling.
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