Fight or bail?
Aug. 23rd, 2009 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sereneOn Thursday, I posted a negative review of my dentist on Yelp. On Saturday morning, I received a courier package from the dentist's lawyer saying they're going to sue me for defamation unless I take the review down. My current plan, subject to change if anyone has better ideas, is:
1) Look over my review and make sure it's completely factual. Change anything that's not (dollar amounts were estimated; find actual amounts. make sure timeline is correct).
2) I pay for legal insurance through my work. Contact those folks on Monday and ask for advice.
3) I am inclined to also add to my review the fact that they have sent this threatening letter, and include the text of the letter.
I'm not afraid of being sued, or of leaving the review up if it's accurate -- I really did have two TERRIBLE experiences at that dentist's office. I do, however, want to do the right thing. I have screen-capped the review page because it has other negative reviews on it. I have also emailed the other negative reviewers to ask if they have been threatened with litigation, too. One has written back so far to say she hasn't.
In poking around on the Yelp question, it appears Yelp is no bastion of even-handed honesty at any rate, so it might be just fine, ethically and practically, to just take the thing down and not worry about it.
Thoughts?
1) Look over my review and make sure it's completely factual. Change anything that's not (dollar amounts were estimated; find actual amounts. make sure timeline is correct).
2) I pay for legal insurance through my work. Contact those folks on Monday and ask for advice.
3) I am inclined to also add to my review the fact that they have sent this threatening letter, and include the text of the letter.
I'm not afraid of being sued, or of leaving the review up if it's accurate -- I really did have two TERRIBLE experiences at that dentist's office. I do, however, want to do the right thing. I have screen-capped the review page because it has other negative reviews on it. I have also emailed the other negative reviewers to ask if they have been threatened with litigation, too. One has written back so far to say she hasn't.
In poking around on the Yelp question, it appears Yelp is no bastion of even-handed honesty at any rate, so it might be just fine, ethically and practically, to just take the thing down and not worry about it.
Thoughts?
no subject
Date: 2009-08-24 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-24 10:55 am (UTC)"The test is whether the alleged defamatory statement as a whole is true or false. Minor inaccuracies are not subject to defamation claims if the overall substance of the statement is true. "The plaintiff cannot succeed in meeting the burden of proving falsity by showing that only that the statement is not literally true in every detail. If the statement is true in substance, inaccuracies of expression or detail are immaterial." Jadwin, supra, 390 N.W.2d at 441."
From abbotlaw.com
Basically, they would have to prove that you're lying, and if they want to pursue a case on those grounds, it's their money they're wasting.