LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Malibu couple reached a settlement with two DJs who allegedly used fraud to convince them to lease their home through Airbnb as the site for an online summer concert that drew complaints from neighbors.
Attorney and film producer Glenn Feig and his wife, Kathy Feig, had brought the suit Dec. 23 in Los Angeles Superior Court against Ricky Mears and Dylan Ragland, who together make up the group Sidepiece. Also named as a defendant was Insomniac Holdings LLC, with which Sidepiece has a recording contract.
The Feigs alleged fraud, invasion of privacy and trespass and sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. On Friday, attorneys for the Feigs filed court papers with Judge Monica Bachner stating that the case was resolved, but no terms were divulged.
The Feig home has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, panoramic ocean views and a backyard waterfall, the suit states. The Feigs lease the property on Airbnb from $695 a night to $20,000 a month, the suit stated.
In order to promote the property and increase income, the Feigs “carefully guard their reputations as Airbnb “superhosts'' by providing guests with “extraordinary experiences'' and not allowing their leasing guests to bother those living nearby, the suit stated.
The Feigs also allow the property to be used for filming, but because such uses involve greater potential for problems, the leasing rates are generally much higher, the suit stated.
Last Aug. 22, Ralgand and Mears applied to rent the home from Sept. 4-9, the suit states. Mears stated in writing that he wanted to lease the home for a business retreat and that he and three other people would be creating music, the suit stated.
“I am in the music business and am serious about my craft,'' Mears wrote, according to the suit. “I would be truly honored to book your home for our trip.''
The Feigs accepted the request the same day and asked Mears and Ragland that they “be respectful of the neighbors and keep the music low so they cannot hear it. It is a quiet neighborhood with mostly families,'' the suit stated.
However, Glenn Feig received the first of several complaints from his neighbors regarding noise at the property on Sept. 6 and several more the next two nights, the suit states. Glenn Feig went to the home on Sept 8 and saw a commercial production taking place with more than 25 guests congregating without masks, the suit stated.
Glenn Feig also saw Sidepiece performing music while being filmed by a professional crew, according to the suit. He later found out that Ralgand and Mears were using the home to host an event to promote Sidepiece and two other Insomniac artists, Yolanda Be Cool and Dillon Nathaniel, in an online concert called “Kiss & Tell,'' the suit stated.
The Feigs would have worked with Mears and Ralgand for an appropriate alternative location had they known the DJs' actual plans, but the couple never would have leased the Malibu home to them through Airbnb, which prohibits events like the “Kiss & Tell'' concert, the suit stated.
Ragland and Mears knew that the gathering of so many individuals at the Feig home would violate state and local health rules pertaining to the coronavirus and they also were aware the concert would disrupt the plaintiffs' neighbors, the suit alleged.
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