In the last few years, a number of “service review” websites have been developed that allow consumers to share their experiences with restaurants, hotels, entertainment destinations, professional services, and even doctors with one another. When a professional receives positive reviews on review sites like Yelp.com, they often see a significant increase in business. Conversely, those who don’t poor reviews are often hurting for business. Some who have received bad reviews have as gone as far as litigating commenters who post negative reviews.
The first lawsuit of this kind occurred after a man named Christopher Norberg wrote a negative review about the chiropractor he visited, specifically with some of the chiropractor’s billing methods and how they were not fair in dealing with insurance companies. At first the chiropractor complained and demanded that Norberg remove the review, but Norberg reviewed. Eventually the chiropractor, Steven Biegel of Advanced Chiropractic Center, sued Norberg for libel and invasion of privacy. Eventually, the case was quietly settled out of court.
Another suit occurred in January of 2009 when a pediatric dentist of Foster City, CA sued two consumers over negative reviews that they had written on Yelp.com. The consumers had criticized the dentist for giving their son fillings that used Mercury. The Dentist, Yvonne Wong, commented “I don’t want these lies to be posted on the Web site about me–I’m not looking for money” to the San Francisco Chronicle. Wong stated that she was forced to sue for libel after Yelp.com refused to take the reviews down.
Although these suits are currently few and far between, there is a trend emerging. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ever post less than favorable reviews on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, but rather that you should be careful with what you write. Remember to stick to the facts. It’s perfectly okay to express your opinions, but make sure to do so in a manner that’s honest and won’t open you up for a lawsuit.
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1 users resposed " Post on an Online Review Site and Get Sued for Libel "
October 15 2009
I am a merchant. I know other merchants. Some people use the anonymity of the internet for evil and post false, negative reviews of a business to harm it.
A person sitting in his living room can open multiple accounts and post false and damaging lies as often as he wishes and the merchant can do nothing.
This is not justice. Our laws are simply not just.
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