is it illegal for someone to make several fake reservations at a restaurant on 1 night to hurt their business?

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is it illegal for someone to make several fake reservations at a restaurant on 1 night to hurt their business?

On Saturday night someone made 5 tables worth of 4 person reservations at
600 to crush our night. We are small business, so several of our employees did
not have any customers and we lost a huge amount of money. We called the
reservation company and they said they are starting an investigation. what are
the repercussions to the person that did this? We think it is an ex-employee.

Asked on December 5, 2017 under Business Law, Pennsylvania

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 6 years ago | Contributor

It is not specifically illegal, in the sense of there being a law against doing exactly this thing. However, IF you believe you can prove by a "preponderance of the evidence" (i.e. more likely than not) that it was this person, you may be able to sue him/her for "tortious interference with economic advantage": for, through improper means, interfering with legitimate business activities. 


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