Sued over a Bad Review

[WhiteTiger]

I read an article earlier today that spoke about a Calgary woman's legal efforts to keep a bad review online. She had a bad experience at a dog kennel, and after they threatened her, removed it. Then a video came along with this kennel abusing another animal staying there. She re-posted her review, and they tried to sue her for Defamation.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/dog-own...line-1.2420908

She's won the lawsuit (you can't defame someone if you can prove they have wronged you) but apparently this is enough of a thing that lawyers have a snappy name for it, a SLAPP (Strategic lawsuits against public participation) lawsuit.

I wonder if we'll start seeing more of these, as generally the mere threat of legal action is enough to back someone off.

[NuclearFart]

Classic lawyer BS. If I was a lawyer, I'd be ashamed of this sort of activity tainting my entire profession further. Can she not counter-sue to cover her legal fees?

[darklord700]

That's the problem for the defender in a libel lawsuit. The plaintiff can throw out any garbage suit with merits or not, and the defender will have to answer or risk a default judgement against them. This involves time and money for the defender.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

Classic lawyer BS. If I was a lawyer, I'd be ashamed of this sort of activity tainting my entire profession further. Can she not counter-sue to cover her legal fees?

They can but it's a teeny tiny amount. The last judgement I got was about $600 for legal and court fees.

I'd love to help pay this woman's bills. Well done miss/mrs Saad.

I hope Chasin' Tails dies.

[DownhillGoat]

I thought they went under?

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

I thought they went under?

A quick google says otherwise.
http://www.chasin-tails.ca
They seem to have good reviews but you have to wonder how much of that is because of their strong-arm tactics.

[Calgary14]

If she won the case in court wouldn't the kennel have to reimburse her for the $20k in legal fees? I assumed that would be part of the judgment.

Reviews like this serve a purpose (assuming they are truthful), as a consumer I'd want to know if a business I am considering using is good/bad/ugly. I'd never use Chasin Tails based on her experience alone

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

I wonder if we'll start seeing more of these, as generally the mere threat of legal action is enough to back someone off.

It already happens, a lot.

Yelp is a major battleground for this. Not only for companies threatening or suing Yelp and/or the reviewer to try and hide bad reviews, but also for attempting to astroturf positive reviews.

If you want a really good laugh, read up about Roca Labs.

[GGG]

I know yelp has also been accused of shaking people down to get rid of negative reviews. Effectively advertise with us and the bad reviews will show up less.

Here's a pretty balanced article on it.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oaklan...wFullText=true

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

Classic lawyer BS. If I was a lawyer, I'd be ashamed of this sort of activity tainting my entire profession further. Can she not counter-sue to cover her legal fees?

The successful party in Alberta is entitled to party and party costs but what that means is there is a price list in the rules of court that shows how much you get for what your lawyer did (i.e. If s/he made a one day court application, you get $X) which is usually well below the lawyer's actual legal bill. However, in a true SLAPP you would hope that you're getting summary judgment anyway so the costs shouldn't run up too high.

You can also seek solicitor and his own client costs which is a full indemnity for legal fees but it is rarely given and only at the court's discretion. Another thing you can do if you know a suit is BS is make a formal offer for $1; if you make a formal offer and the plaintiff is ultimately awarded less than that amount you get double costs (price list in the rules of court times two).

[CliffFletcher]

Then there's the case of bad book reviews. There was recently a stir on goodreads where an author laid into a reviewer for posting a caustic, 1-star review of his novel. He told her she was a bad person making the world a bad place, and that she was directly hurting his livelihood. He was a real piece of work.

Dozens of other goodreads members took exception to the author's diatribe, and went on a crusade of their own to give all his books one-star ratings, even though they hadn't read them. Now his average ratings are worse than ever. Pretty contemptible behaviour by the author, but also a frightening example of mob justice rum amuck.

So the subjects of negative reviews needs to be very, very prudent in how they handle them, or they could whip up an even stronger backlash.

[troutman]

Many jurisdictions are introducing SLAAP reforms. Ontario is currently considering recommended reforms.

Beyond that Law Societies have the power to discipline lawyers that bring frivolous cases that are a abuse of the process. Those complaints should be made more often, because the Codes of Conduct already have the rules in place.

http://www.lawsociety.ab.ca/docs/def...3.pdf?sfvrsn=2

4.01 (2)
When acting as an advocate, a lawyer must not:

(a) abuse the process of the tribunal by instituting or prosecuting proceedings that, although legal in themselves, are clearly motivated by malice on the part of the client and are brought solely for the purpose of injuring the other party;
(b) take any step in the representation of a client that is clearly without merit;
(c) unreasonably delay the process of the tribunal;
(d) knowingly assist or permit a client to do anything that the lawyer considers to be dishonest or dishonourable;

[Jets4Life]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

If you want a really good laugh, read up about Roca Labs.

"You agree that regardless of your outcome, you will not disparage RLN and/or any of our employees, products or services. This means that you will not speak, publish, cause to be published, print, tweet, review, blog or write negatively about RLN, or our products or employees in any way. You further agree that in an effort to prevent the publishing of libelous or slanderous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts RLN, its reputation, products, services, management or employees.

You will help promote RLN and our products by sharing your weight loss success with us. You agree to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You agree that from time to time we may contact you via electronic mail or telephone to learn about your success.

You agree that we can use any and all information that you provide about your weight loss success in RLN marketing efforts."

Wow!

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by troutman

Many jurisdictions are introducing SLAAP reforms. Ontario is currently considering recommended reforms.

Beyond that Law Societies have the power to discipline lawyers that bring frivolous cases that are a abuse of the process. Those complaints should be made more often, because the Codes of Conduct already have the rules in place.

Who can bring those complaints forward?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Jets4Life

Wow!

It gets better. They are suing an opposing lawyer for opposing them, and sued a witness who testified against them in a different lawsuit.


The problem with companies (and authors) engaging in SLAPP behaviour is that it pretty much guarantees a Streisand Effect.


Yelp's advertising/review massaging strategy is also criticized though. One California restaurant gives discounts if customers leave one-star reviews as a protest.

[pylon]

In this instance, I can see the reviewers issue, but however, I have some issues where the whole google reviews/YELP thing is a giant POS.

In the car business, you would have people dumping horrid reviews for dealerships, for their own stupidity. One of the most hilarious ones, was where a client went 85,000 KMS without changing their oil, and when they grenaded their engine, it was clearly the 'stealerships' fault just fishing for work. People complaining about accrued interest, thinking that a loan should be a simple calculation like the tax, then the leave a freak out review online, saying the dealer scammed them, by using a standard amortization chart like every bank in in North America.

The examples are nearly infinite, and the term "The customer is always right" always comes up... when in many cases they are 100% wrong. And the dealer has zero power to have one of these completely non-nonsensical reviews removed. The only action they can take sometimes, is to sue the living hell out of the reviewer to get them to pull it down. Google will do absolutely nothing to help you, even if the review said ABC motors killed my puppy, pooped in my mouth, and brought Hitler back to life with a time machine and interred my entire family in a concentration camp. Even if you flag it as inappropriate, it stays.

Needless to say, I can understand both sides. When you have a bat-shart crazy customer leaving a completely false review, you have no choice to pursue legal action now, as google reviews is one of the most important marketing tools out there. That being said, it is deeply flawed, and slanted in the clients favour, even though the dealers pay huge to use google's services.

[Calgary14]

I always take all online reviews with a grain of salt. If someone complains that a restaurant has horrible food/service they lose all credibility when they comment their napkin wasn't folded properly or there were only 15 gluten-free items on the menu.

On the other hand a lot of the reviews out there aren't even real: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp...iews-1.2826154

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by pylon

In this instance, I can see the reviewers issue, but however, I have some issues where the whole google reviews/YELP thing is a giant POS.

In the car business, you would have people dumping horrid reviews for dealerships, for their own stupidity. One of the most hilarious ones, was where a client went 85,000 KMS without changing their oil, and when they grenaded their engine, it was clearly the 'stealerships' fault just fishing for work. People complaining about accrued interest, thinking that a loan should be a simple calculation like the tax, then the leave a freak out review online, saying the dealer scammed them, by using a standard amortization chart like every bank in in North America.

The examples are nearly infinite, and the term "The customer is always right" always comes up... when in many cases they are 100% wrong. And the dealer has zero power to have one of these completely non-nonsensical reviews removed. The only action they can take sometimes, is to sue the living hell out of the reviewer to get them to pull it down. Google will do absolutely nothing to help you, even if the review said ABC motors killed my puppy, pooped in my mouth, and brought Hitler back to life with a time machine and interred my entire family in a concentration camp. Even if you flag it as inappropriate, it stays.

Needless to say, I can understand both sides. When you have a bat-shart crazy customer leaving a completely false review, you have no choice to pursue legal action now, as google reviews is one of the most important marketing tools out there. That being said, it is deeply flawed, and slanted in the clients favour, even though the dealers pay huge to use google's services.

Doctor reviews are the worst.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by pylon

term "The customer is always right"

Phrase. /petpeeve

I hear you, though. Which is why I often look at the good and bad reviews, and figure that the story is closer to the middle. Anyone can post whatever they want online, glowing or not. I also try to give folks the benefit of the doubt for bad days (for both the company and the customer).

I find online reviews to be helpful, but far from the be-all, end-all.

[Vulcan]

This is my favourite review from Amazon. It's for the Samsung SEK-3500U which is an upgrade attachment for 2014 Samsung 4K TVs.

Hooked this up this morning and then stepped through my tv screen into a parallel dimension. It was actually pretty scary.

and this reply while being accurate missed the mark.

I call BS. The sek-3500U has not even been released yet.