How to Sue Someone for a Bad Review
Accept you lot ever encountered such horrible customer service from a business concern that information technology left you feeling utterly infuriated? So, much so that even after asking "to speak to the managing director," yous could even so feel yourself getting hot under the collar?
Don't worry. Y'all're in good visitor. We've all been in that location at one point in our lives.
Before you lot know information technology, you're telling anyone who will listen why they need to avoid that particular establishment like the plague. Yet, it'south still not enough. You lot need a larger audience.
So, you accept to social media and post a bad review, and moments later, information technology already has xx views, which turn into l, and so 100. Day later, your postal service has had ane,000+ views. You lot experience vindicated. "That should teach them not to mess with me," you mutter under your breath equally a victorious smile washes across your face.
The one thing you may not realize is that your victory could be short-lived. And, it may come at a price that could leave you lot shedding premium tears. What happens when a simple bad review turns into a defamation lawsuit?
Tin a business sue for a bad review? Here's what you lot demand to know.
Defamation Lawsuit for a Bad Review
What most Americans don't realize is that bad reviews can potentially toll them a lot more than they bargained for.
With then many online review forums on the internet, and the sheer ability social media has to potentially ruin a legit business, information technology comes as no surprise that a business owner may have exception to a bad review left by a consumer. They may even cease up seeking legal redress by suing for defamation if they feel that the comments lack merit.
People often confuse the terms defamation, slander, and libel even though the 3 terms mean entirely different things.
Defamation vs Slander
Defamation is defined as a false statement presented as a fact that ends upward causing damage or injury to an individual's or company's reputation. For instance, a statement forth the lines of: "XYZ Ltd. steals from its customers."
If this statement is not true, and XYZ ends up losing customers equally a result, and so it is considered defamation. XYZ has the correct to bring a defamation lawsuit confronting the individual who fabricated that statement.
If, all the same, you went to the XYZ company premises, demanded to see the owner and proceed to say to them, "You're stealing from your customers!" that isn't considered defamation, since the statement was uttered in private, and doesn't damage the company'southward reputation in anyone else's optics.
Slander and libel are substantially types of defamation. The difference arises in the method used to defame the entity in question. If yous make a imitation, defamatory statement in writing, and then it is considered libel. If you make a false, defamatory statement relayed orally via speech communication, then it is considered slander.
Elements of Defamation
Keep in mind that before anyone tin can bring a defamation lawsuit against yous, they need to testify 4 key elements.
- The presentation of fake statements purporting to exist factual
- The communication or publication of said false statements to a third party
- Fault amounting to negligence
- Loss, harm, or injury incurred past the defamed party as a result of the defamatory statement
Continue in mind that different states have dissimilar anti-defamation statutes, which may (or may not) crave a higher threshold for proving defamation. As a upshot, the courts in those states may interpret defamation laws slightly differently.
Defamation of Character
Defamation of grapheme, which is legally referred to as tort of defamation, is generally classified into two specific types of false statements.
- Defamatory per se statements – These are utterances that are so evidently harmful, no proof of injury is required
- Defamatory per quod statements – The plaintiff has to prove injury or damage incurred, which may include the loss of something with economic value
The Consumer Review Fairness Act (CRFA)
"… Company Sues Customer for Bad Review …" Up until 2016, these kinds of headlines had become an everyday occurrence.
It had go such a huge issue that Congress had to arbitrate by passing the Consumer Review Fairness Deed of 2016 to protect consumers from unwarranted intimidation and penalisation by companies for posting honest reviews.
It paved the way for the government to crack down on companies that use the threat of a lawsuit to intimidate honest reviewers into taking down negative posts nearly their businesses.
Some companies would even become to the extent of using non-disparagement clauses in contracts to sue consumers who left bad reviews online or outrightly intimidating them into giving positive reviews.
If you lot leave an honest bad review online, the CRFA protects yous from being sued past a concern that claims (whether true or not) to have a not-disparagement provision. If a visitor ends upwardly suing you on these grounds, report the matter on the FTC website.
Anti-SLAPP Statutes
If you live in any one of the 29 states that currently have an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) laws, and are existence sued for a bad review, you tin can petition the court to dismiss the adjust on the ground that it lacks merit. Plaintiffs who lose an anti-SLAPP motion may fifty-fifty accept to pay penalties as a result.
On the other hand, states that don't accept these laws exit consumers exposed to the wrath of disgruntled business concern owners. The average defamation settlement costs vary depending on the loss and damages suffered. These may include:
- Actual/compensatory damages for the actual lost earnings resulting from the defamation
- Non-economic damages for the visitor's injured reputation
- Castigating damages assessed against the accused
- Mitigating amercement to minimize the loss suffered
In 2018, CBS News reported a story about a New York woman who was fighting a $one meg suit past a local doc for posting a negative review online. Another doctor in Tennessee sued a patient for $25,000 for leaving a bad review on Yelp. So, as you can encounter, defamation lawsuit settlements are all over the spectrum.
Choose Your Words Carefully
Can a business organisation sue you for a bad review? Yes, you can. Especially if you tin't back it up with facts. The best matter to exercise when writing an online review is to put forward a factual assertion and be as detailed equally y'all possibly tin. Ensure that you as well provide proof to back up your claims.
That'southward the best style to protect yourself against a defamation lawsuit. And then, choose your words carefully.
If you lot accept any legal questions about defamation lawsuits, conversation online with a Laws101.com chaser today.
Source: https://laws101.com/business-sue-you-for-a-bad-review/
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