states aimed at protecting people from frivolous lawsuits that infringe on their First Amendment rights.
If you are sued by a business that claims to have a non-disparagement provision, you can report the lawsuit on the FTC website, says Settlemeyer, who adds that each state's attorney general also has the power to enforce the CRFA.Īnd there are other laws on the books in most U.S.
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"The bottom line is the businesses aren't allowed to use those provisions … and they have to notify customers that those non-disparagement provisions are void and that they can't enforce them and that they're free to post their honest reviews of their interactions with the business." The FTC has used the law to issue complaints against businesses (from an HVAC repair company to a vacation rental business) that the agency alleged have used non-disparagement clauses in contracts to sue consumers who left honest reviews online, "with different language that ranged from a strong confidentiality restriction that would cover posting reviews to outright 'Don't leave me any review less than five stars or I'm going to sue you for $25,000,'" Settlemeyer says.
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It's opened the door for the government to crack down on businesses trying to use the threat of a lawsuit, and the associated legal fees, to strong-arm consumers into either avoiding writing negative reviews or taking them down after they've been written. The CRFA banned the use by businesses of non-disparagement clauses in any contracts that aren't reasonably open to negotiation. While Settlemeyer notes that businesses suing consumers over negative online reviews is far from an everyday occurrence across the country, it's become enough of an issue that Congress felt the need to pass a law in 2016, called the Consumer Review Fairness Act (CRFA), to protect consumers' ability to leave an honest online review of a business without being punished. Mascagani goes as far as to say some people are trying to "hijack our judicial system to silence, intimidate and harass critics of theirs." "Sometimes may go too far, sometimes a business may be trying to throw its weight around and trying to silence a consumer," Settlemeyer tells CNBC Make It. With so many consumers posting online reviews of businesses, it's not surprising that some business-owners might take exception to the occasional negative review, says Carl Settlemeyer, an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission's bureau of consumer protection.
"With the rise of user-generated content sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google, we've really seen a shift where folks are being sued for their speech online," Mascagni tells CNBC Make It. "Most Americans don't realize they can be sued for writing an online review," says Evan Mascagni, an attorney who currently serves as Policy Director at the Public Participation Project, a nonprofit group that advocates for First Amendment rights. The lawsuit sought at least $25,000 and legal costs from the Kansas man, but he was granted a summary judgement in August 2019, which terminated the lawsuit, according to court records.Īnd in 2015, a Colorado couple reportedly racked up $65,000 in legal fees (including a $15,000 settlement payment) fighting a defamation lawsuit brought by a flooring company the couple negatively reviewed on Yelp.
In 2018, a tourist attraction in Branson, Missouri called Bigfoot on the Strip sued a Kansas man and his daughter over a relatively tepid review posted on TripAdvisor (the man initially gave the business a rating of three out of five stars). In the review, Lloyd recounted how his dog died at the animal hospital waiting for a surgeon who never showed up. In July, a Yelp user in Florida named Tom Lloyd told " CBS This Morning" that he was left with more than $25,000 in legal bills after a veterinary practice sued him for defamation over a negative Yelp review. It's a trend that's become more common as more and more people share their opinions in online forums and discussion boards, from Yelp (which features over 100 million reviews from users) to the comments sections of businesses' social media pages.
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