The Sharing Revolution: Changing Times Call for Clarifying Tort Liability

• Author: Cecilia G. Vazquez
• Position: J.D./D.C.L. candidate 2020, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
• Pages: 625-663

Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review

Volume 80

Number 2

Winter 2020

Article 16

4-22-2020

The Sharing Revolution: Changing Times Call for Clarifying Tort The Sharing Revolution: Changing Times Call for Clarifying Tort

Liability Liability

Cecilia G. Vazquez

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev

Part of the Torts Commons

Repository Citation Repository Citation

Cecilia G. Vazquez,

The Sharing Revolution: Changing Times Call for Clarifying Tort Liability

, 80 La. L. Rev.

(2020)

Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol80/iss2/16

This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital

Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital

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The Sharing Revolution: Changing Times Call for

Clarifying Tort Liability

Cecilia G. Vazquez*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .................................................................................. 624

I. America’s Second Industrial Revolution:

The Sharing Revolution ............................................................... 628

A. The Sharing Economy: New Business Models

for a New Era......................................................................... 629

1. Airbnb and Airbnb Plus: The Worldwide

Home Sharing Platform................................................... 631

2. Uber: The 21st Century Taxi........................................... 634

B. The Industrial Revolution: Economic and Social

Disruption Demanded Tort Law Refinement ........................ 637

II. Tap to Play the Classification Game: Tort Law’s

Inadequacy in the Sharing Economy............................................ 639

A. Player One: Carroll v. American Empire

Surplus Lines Co.................................................................... 641

1. Round One: Exterminator Versus

Real Estate Agent................................ ............................ 643

2. Round Two: University Versus

Facilitator of Internet Transactions ................................. 644

3. Round Three: Gatekeeper Versus Travel Agent ............. 645

B. Player Two: Doe v. Uber Technologies ................................. 646

1. Round One: Employee Versus

Independent Contractor................................................... 650

2. Round Two: Common Carrier Versus

Technology Company ..................................................... 651

C. Game Over: Sharing-Economy Companies Do Not

Fit the Mold of Existing Classifications ................................ 652

Copyright 2020, by CECILIA G. VAZQUEZ.

* J.D./D.C.L. candidate 2020, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State

University. I would like to thank my parents, Juan and Gina Vazquez, for their

unending love, support, and encouragement. I would also like to thank Professors

William R. Corbett and John M. Church for introducing me to this Comment's

topic and for their guidance. Finally, I would like to thank the Louisiana Law

Review Volume 80 Board for assisting me with the writing process.

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624 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 80

III. Mandate Insurance Programs ....................................................... 654

A. State Legislation Mandating Insurance Programs ................. 656

B. State Tort Reform Imposing a Heightened

Standard of Care for Intentional Acts .................................... 658

Conclusion.................................................................................... 659

INTRODUCTION

In 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle laid off 63-year-old

photographer Frederic Larson.1 Unemployed and with two children in

college, Larson managed to find a job teaching photojournalism at a

university but took a significant cut in salary and benefits.2 Needing to

earn more income, Larson resorted to the online marketplace.3 For 12 days

each month, Larson now rents out his home in Marin County, California,

through Airbnb4 for $100 per night.5 On the nights that Larson rents out

his home, he stays in a separate room and showers at his local gym.6 Four

nights each week, Larson turns his Prius into a de facto taxi and drives

strangers to their desired destinations through Lyft.7 He earns an average

of $100 per night.8 By sharing his home and his vehicle, Larson generates

about $3,000 of additional income each month.9

Coined as the “sharing economy,” a new economic culture is

revolutionizing the global marketplace and disrupting established

commercial industries.10 The sharing economy, through smartphone

1. Tomio Geron, Airbnb and the Unstoppable Rise of the Share Economy,

FORBES (Jan. 23, 2013, 7:00 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/

2013/01/23/airbnb-and-the-unstoppable-rise-of-the-share-economy/ [https://perma

.cc/H7H2-A3NK].

2. Id.

3. Id.

4. See How It Works, AIRBNB, https://www.airbnb.com/help/getting-

started/how-it-works [https://perma.cc/5WBP-9TYD] (last visited Oct. 23, 2018).

5. Geron, supra note 1.

6. Id.

7. Id.

8. Id.

9. Id.

10. Sydney Finkelstein, Will There Be a Revolt in the Sharing Economy?,

BBC (Mar. 25, 2015), http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150325-revolt-in-the-

sharing-economy [https://perma.cc/D8PM-MVWM].