Can and should your company sue for an overly spiteful and negative review on Yelp, Trip Advisor, or another customer review site? This question was recently analyzed by Matt Kellogg and Simon Frankel on Covington & Burling’s The Business of Brands blog. The authors point out some problems with making a claim, despite how badly you may want to put Anonymous1234 in his or her place:
Defamation
Since defamation law covers only “provable” facts, you cannot sue for an opinion. And, as Kellogg and Frankel point out, not all reviews fall squarely into the fact or opinion category. They cite a recent case in California between a landlord and his tenant: The claim that the landlord was a “sociopathic narcissist” was found to be opinion; that he likely contributed to the deaths of three tenants—fact.
