Can you prove defamation from a google review?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Can you prove defamation from a google review?
A Google review was written regarding an office.manager for a certain company. The way she treats the technicians is true but the person who wrote it stated they were a customer and
that was false it was in fact a spouse of previous employee. She is now stating she knows who wrote it and has a lawyer and will take legal action to the fullest extent. If it went
this far can the person who wrote the review be fined and to what extent? The person claimed to have heard the office manager yelling at the tech over the phone and basically stated they would not recommend the company to anyone
Until the attitude of the office manager was removed or confronted and corrected.
Asked on April 4, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Nevada
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
There is no "fine" for defamation: a fine is imposed by the government, but the government does not get invovled in this. Rather, a person who believes she was defamed can sue for compensation, with the amount of compensation depending on the degree of repuational injury or career harm she can show.
Defamation is not merely a negative statement: it is an untrue factual statement that happens to be negative. If the statement is true, even if negative, it is not defamation; and if it's an opinion, that's not defamation, either. Examples: say that Jane Doe yells at her employees a lot. Saying she yells at them is not defamation--it's true. Saying she is mean or a bad manager is not defamation--that's an opinion. Saying that she hit an employee or stole from an employee when she did not, that is an untrue factual statement that certainly could be defamation.
Defamation can be found in a review, if the statement about the manager is a negative untrue factual assertion.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.