A little over a year ago, a Virginia judge ordered a Yelp user to change a negative review on the site. Jane Perez was sued by Dietz Development, a building contractor who claimed to have lost business because of her negative postings on the site (as well as on Angie’s List). He sued for $750,000, and claimed that he lost $300,000 because of her words.
Perez claimed in her reviews that the contractor had caused damage to her home, trespassed and stole jewelry. The judge granted a temporary injunction, and ordered Perez to change parts of the review, specifically the accusations of theft.
The following month, the Supreme Court of Virginia overturned the injunction, ruling that it was not justified.
The case, according to The Washington Post, heads back to court on Monday for trial.
The Virginia Supreme Court determined that Perez wouldn’t have to change the reviews as long as they had yet to be proven libelous. Simply being sued for damages was not determined to be enough of a justification.
Now that the case is going to trial, this feud gets a step closer to conclusion. We’ll continue to follow it, and report on the outcome.
Earlier this month, in another case, Yelp was ordered to identify the people behind anonymous reviews who allegedly left fake, negative reviews on a business listing.
Image via Yelp