A 19-month-old girl named Enora Lavenir died from acute fentanyl toxicity at a rental home in Wellington. In response, Enora’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Airbnb, the property owner, the manager of the home, and the previous renter.
Court records indicate that Boris and Lydie Lavenir rented the home for four days in August 2021 for a family vacation in Florida. The family of seven checked in on the afternoon of Aug. 6 and received the keys to the home from rental property manager Yulia A. Timpy, who managed the home owned by Ronald Cortamilia, who is also named in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the day after the family checked in, Enora’s mother found her unresponsive and foaming at the mouth. Emergency crews rushed the girl to the hospital where she later died. The medical examiner found a lethal level of fentanyl in Enora’s blood and determined that her cause of death was acute fentanyl toxicity. Toxicology readings indicated that Enora did not come into contact with fentanyl anywhere else but in the Airbnb rental.
The lawsuit alleges that the Airbnb home had a history of being used as a party house. In the days before Enora’s death, Aaron Kornhauser, who is also named as a defendant, rented the home as he stayed in town for a concert from July 30 through Aug. 1, 2021, for six adults. The lawsuit claims approximately 11 people stayed at the home, and that Timpy allowed them all to check in. The lawsuit also claims that Kornhauser allowed others to bring illicit drugs to the premises and that the drugs were consumed throughout the rental property.
The family claims that Airbnb had knowledge that advanced cleaning and decontamination procedures were required to adequately sanitize their rentals and eliminate the fatal risk posed to future guests and children by drugs and/or residue. The lawsuit also alleges that Airbnb assumed and/or owed a duty to take reasonable care for the safety of its guests and to provide a rental free of lethal drugs and/or residue on the property, and to provide sufficient warning of the risk of harm. The family also accuses Airbnb of failing “to properly inspect, safeguard, and maintain” the home, “to adequately clean, decontaminate, and/or sanitize” the home, “to change and/or adequately clean the bed sheets” in the home, and failing to warn the Lavenir family that “lethal drugs had been used in the property,” among other allegations.
Cortamilia, Timpy, and Kornhauser also face similar allegations. The family seeks a jury trial and damages in excess of the “Court’s jurisdictional minimum limit of $30,000, exclusive of costs and interests.”
