ALLENTOWN – The brother of an Italian woman who died after falling down the stairs of a house rented through Airbnb, has reached a preliminary settlement for wrongful death claims with the property owner for $435,000.
Claudio Berti, executor of Anna Maria Orecchia’s estate, first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 9, 2019 against Airbnb and Luna Barakat.
Berti and Orecchia, a resident of Rome, Italy, had planned to rent the house in Allentown for two weeks in November 2017. But two days after arriving, in the early hours of the morning, Orecchia fell down the stairs to the basement, suffering fatal head and other injuries.
She died nine days after the incident.
The complaint said the house rental company is responsible as it owned, operated, or controlled the “improperly designed, constructed, deteriorated, and inherently defective basement stairs.”
“Our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of Ms. Orecchia. Safety is a key priority, and we will be prepared to defend against the allegations in this complaint,” Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit previously told the Pennsylvania Record in a statement.
Owners of properties rented out through the company can buy host protection insurance coverage of up to $1 million, applicable in certain cases when a guest suffers an injury, according to its website.
The suit states that the plaintiff's brother visited the site and relied on the company to make sure the property was safe. Among the attractions contained in the listing was the basement laundry.
The “dangerous condition” of the stairs and the failure to maintain and warn was the responsibility of the defendants, and the deceased woman played no part in her own death, the complaint argued.
The suit claimed both defendants had a duty to maintain the property advertised on the company site.
Through a mutual stipulation filed with the Court on Nov. 12, 2019, Airbnb was dismissed without prejudice from the lawsuit and without cost to either party.
On Jan. 8, 2020, defendant Barakat countered that she was not negligent in the events that led to the death of Orecchia, as argued by Berti.
Barakat said that the plaintiff “fails to state a cause of action upon which relief may be granted and “the cause of action is barred by the applicable statute of limitations and/or laches.”
The defendant also argued that the plaintiff was not entitled to recovery in the suit.
“If the answering defendant is proven to be negligent, which negligence is specifically denied, the plaintiff was also negligent and said negligence of the plaintiff was greater than any negligence chargeable to the answering defendant and, therefore, the plaintiff is not entitled to damages,” the answer read, in part.
“If the answering defendant is proven to be negligent, which negligence is specifically denied, the plaintiff was also negligent and damages to which the plaintiff may be entitled, should be reduced in proportion to the negligence attributable to the plaintiff.”
UPDATE
A petition for approval to settle the case was filed by plaintiff counsel with the Court on July 6, in the amount of $435,000.
Berti had obtained an Italian Grant of Probate known as Dichiarazione di Successione and on April 30, 2021, he was granted Ancillary Letters of Administration by the Lehigh County Register of Wills.
“The parties have agreed to settle this matter for the sum of $435,000. Plaintiff has been advised that this sum represents a reasonable settlement offer and has accepted same. At the time of her death on Nov. 27, 2017, Ms. Orecchia, 81, was a resident of Rome, Italy,” the petition stated.
“The decedent died intestate and pursuant to the inheritance laws of Italy, the decedent is survived by her two adult children, Claudio Berti (DOB 02/24/1975) and Marco Berti (DOB 09/12/1970), who are the only persons entitled to the proceeds of this settlement under both the survival action and the claims of wrongful death. Petitioner respectfully requests an allocation of 50 percent of the settlement to the survival action, and 50 percent of the settlement to the wrongful death cause of action.”
The petition added that plaintiff counsel at Munley Law entered into a contingent fee agreement to receive 35 percent of the gross proceeds of any settlement or verdict.
“The total fee paid to Munley Law, per the contingency fee contract is $152,250 pro rata from the proposed settlement of the survival and wrongful death actions or the sum of $76,125 to be paid from each action. Additionally, Munley Law has expended $22,975.13 in costs to prosecute this case,” the petition said.
“As a proportionate share of the costs of litigation, petitioner requests the sum of $22,975.13 which was expended in the prosecution of this action to be paid to the law firm of Munley Law; from that amount the sum of $11,487.56 to be paid from the wrongful death action, and $11,487.57 from the survival action. There is also a Department of Human Services lien to be paid in the amount of $61,349.39 to be paid from the survival action.”
Plaintiff requests that the settlement be approved and distributed as follows:
Survival Action: $217,500 to be distributed as follows:
Attorney’s Fees: $76,125, payable to Munley Law, PC.
Costs Advanced: $11,487.57, payable to Munley Law, PC.
DHS Lien: $61,349.39
Claudio Berti: $34,269.02
Marco Berti: $34,269.02
Wrongful Death Action: $217,500 to be distributed as follows:
Attorney’s Fees: $76,125, payable to Munley Law, PC.
Costs Advanced: $11,487.56, payable to Munley Law, PC.
Claudio Berti: $64,943.72
Marco Berti: $64,943.72
The plaintiff is represented by Ciara DeNaples and Robert W. Munley III of Munley Law, in Scranton.
The defendant is represented by Michael R. Fox of Clark & Fox, in Cherry Hill, N.J.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 5:19-cv-03686
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com