Sued for Internet Reviews: A Rare but Real Occurrence

Most people don’t think twice about what they type online. Sites like Yelp and other review pages encourage people to post their opinions about businesses and people oblige by the millions without even considering that they could wind up on the radar of an Internet defamation lawyer. While it isn’t terribly common, some people have indeed been sued for their online review postings.

Perez v. Dietz

Jane Perez hired Christopher Dietz to do some work on her home. However, she was not happy with the results and went on Yelp and Angie’s List to air her grievances. In her statements she alleges that Dietz billed for work he didn’t do and did a poor job overall. She also stated a belief that he was responsible for her stolen jewelery.

Dietz filed a $750,000 defamation suit and the judge ordered Perez to rewrite her review. In the defamation suit Dietz alleges that Perez’s statements were not true and that they had cost him a considerable amount of lost work and the associated income. He claims that not only did he do a satisfactory job and only bill for work he did but that Perez actually asked him to do work that he was not paid for.

Ultimately the case went to the Virginia Supreme Court because the ACLU argued that requiring Perez to change her review was a violation of her first-amendment rights. The Supreme Court ruled that the judge in the first defamation trial had no right to order Perez to rewrite her review. The verdict stated that Dietz had a right to seek monetary damages if he believed the review to be untrue but that he had no right to have the review taken down or altered while the courts were still deciding the case.

The Potential Peril of Internet Reviews

Perez states that she had no idea this could possibly happen when she wrote her online review. U.S. federal law protects websites like Yelp and Angie’s List from defamation suits but does not protect their users. People are liable for their statements both online and off, including reviews made on these types of websites.

Part of the reason that this is a problem of the Internet age is that it used to be much harder for a person’s potentially slanderous or libelous statements to affect another’s life. The statements would typically be heard only by a small group of people via word of mouth. More widely published statements such as those in newspapers or on television were carefully edited to ensure that they were not defamatory.

However, the Internet has made it possible for statements made about individuals or businesses to have a much more far-reaching effect. Positive online reviews can and do generate income and negative ones can have long-term deleterious effects on those they label. The Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling is a victory for freedom of speech but the entire case is a reminder to be careful what you say, whether online or off.