{"id":10015,"date":"2016-12-18T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T23:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review\/"},"modified":"2016-12-18T15:13:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T23:13:00","slug":"how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review\/","title":{"rendered":"How One Couple Fought For The Legal Right To Leave A Bad Yelp Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-style:italic;font-size:16px\">By  <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/alltechconsidered\/2016\/12\/18\/505852927\/how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=business\">Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi<\/a><\/span>  <\/p>\n<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/alltechconsidered\/2016\/12\/18\/505852927\/how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=business\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/12\/18\/gettyimages-140245452_wide-65c8d035be38b4c095ad54913467ce62faa67e34-s1100-c15.jpg\" alt=\"The Yelp Inc. logo is displayed in the window of a restaurant in New York in 2012.\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/12\/18\/gettyimages-140245452_wide-65c8d035be38b4c095ad54913467ce62faa67e34-s1200.jpg\">Enlarge this image<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Scott Eells\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The story of a new law starts with some online Christmas shopping gone wrong.<\/p>\n<p>In the winter of 2008, John Palmer of Layton, Utah decided to buy his wife Jen a couple of holiday tchotchkes. Things like desk toys and keychains.<\/p>\n<p>The order, from the online retailer KlearGear, never arrived.<\/p>\n<p>After a testy back and forth with the company&#8217;s customer service, Jen Palmer did what many thousands of consumers do every month: She posted about her negative experience on an online business review site.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I posted the review and then we forgot about it,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n<p>But four years later, they received an email from the company demanding they take the review down. The company said they had violated a &#8220;non-disparagement&#8221; clause in the terms of service \u2014 a caveat in the fine print that restricts customers from publicly reviewing their experience with the company.<\/p>\n<p>The company said the Palmers would be subject to a $3,500 fine if they didn&#8217;t comply.<\/p>\n<p>The Palmers refused to take down the review or pay the fine. A few months later the couple found their credit had taken a major hit \u2014 KlearGear had passed the fine on to a collection agency and reported it to several credit bureaus as an unpaid bill.<\/p>\n<div><span>Article continues after <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/about-npr\/186948703\/corporate-sponsorship\">sponsorship<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>They went to the press and found legal representation from Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The purpose of a non-disparagement clause is to have a hammer with which to hit consumers who haven&#8217;t said anything false,&#8221; says Paul Levy, a lawyer with Public Citizen. &#8220;But you can make them take it down, and you can seek damages, you can seek attorney&#8217;s fees, what might you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Levy says gag clauses like these can limit truthful speech and deprive consumers of valuable information when choosing where to spend their money.<\/p>\n<p>After a lengthy legal back and forth, the Palmers won a default judgment in federal court and their credit was restored.<\/p>\n<p>But their case was an extreme example.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Surely 95 percent of the time consumers simply remove the review, rather than stand behind their words, in order to avoid any potential legal action,&#8221; says Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.<\/p>\n<p>He says it&#8217;s likely that the use of these gag clauses is much more widespread than it appears.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So the number of lawsuits are fairly rare because there&#8217;s a much larger group of reviews that have been removed under the threat of lawsuits,&#8221; Goldman says.<\/p>\n<p>The KlearGear case attracted media coverage around the country and helped gain the attention of legislators. California passed a law outlawing the use of non-disparagement clauses to limit customer reviews in 2014. Online review platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor joined the effort to pass federal legislation.<\/p>\n<p>It culminated last week, when President Obama signed the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/114th-congress\/house-bill\/5111\">Consumer Review Fairness Act<\/a> into law after it passed unanimously in the Senate last month. It prohibits businesses from putting non-disparagement clauses into terms of service.<\/p>\n<p>Those clauses &#8220;will not work in court. And they will expose the business that tries to use those techniques to potential liability,&#8221; Goldman explains. He points out that under the law, businesses will still have the ability to combat false reviews through defamation law.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone is happy about the new law, however. Joe Sullivan, an Atlanta business attorney who regularly advises businesses on how to deal with negative online reviews, says he&#8217;s heard some pushback from businesses, none of whom wanted to speak on the record.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t necessarily a solution in search of a problem,&#8221; he says, &#8220;but it was something where it wasn&#8217;t a widespread practice.&#8221; Sullivan says there wasn&#8217;t much incentive for companies to use this kind of fine print to sue customers.<\/p>\n<p>He says some businesses view the law as an effort by consumer review sites to grow their customer base.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the concerns of some businesses, Jen Palmer is happy that the new law means customers like her will not face legal retaliation in the future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very glad to hear that this seems to be the one thing that Congress can agree on,&#8221; she says. &#8220;I&#8217;d definitely call it the best Christmas present of all, to make sure that nobody else has to go through this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/\">Let&#8217;s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/fivefilters\/block-ads\/wiki\/There-are-no-acceptable-ads\">(Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source:: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/alltechconsidered\/2016\/12\/18\/505852927\/how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=business\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"How One Couple Fought For The Legal Right To Leave A Bad Yelp Review\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/alltechconsidered\/2016\/12\/18\/505852927\/how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=business<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/alltechconsidered\/2016\/12\/18\/505852927\/how-one-couple-fought-for-the-legal-right-to-leave-a-bad-yelp-review?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=business\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/12\/18\/gettyimages-140245452_wide-65c8d035be38b4c095ad54913467ce62faa67e34-s1100-c15.jpg\" alt=\"The Yelp Inc. logo is displayed in the window of a restaurant in New York in 2012.\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/12\/18\/gettyimages-140245452_wide-65c8d035be38b4c095ad54913467ce62faa67e34-s1200.jpg\">Enlarge this image<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Scott Eells\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The story of a new law starts with some online Christmas shopping gone wrong.<\/p>\n<p>In the winter of 2008, John Palmer of Layton, Utah decided to buy his wife Jen a couple of holiday tchotchkes. Things like desk toys and keychains.<\/p>\n<p>The order, from the online retailer KlearGear, never arrived.<\/p>\n<p>After a testy back and forth with the company&#8217;s customer service, Jen Palmer did what many thousands of consumers do every month: She posted about her negative experience on an online business review site.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I posted the review and then we forgot about it,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n<p>But four years later, they received an email from the company demanding they take the review down. The company said they had violated a &#8220;non-disparagement&#8221; clause in the terms of service \u2014 a caveat in the fine print that restricts customers from publicly reviewing their experience with the company.<\/p>\n<p>The company said the Palmers would be subject to a $3,500 fine if they didn&#8217;t comply.<\/p>\n<p>The Palmers refused to take down the review or pay the fine. A few months later the couple found their credit had taken a major hit \u2014 KlearGear had passed the fine on to a collection agency and reported it to several credit bureaus as an unpaid bill.<\/p>\n<div><span>Article continues after <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/about-npr\/186948703\/corporate-sponsorship\">sponsorship<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>They went to the press and found legal representation from Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The purpose of a non-disparagement clause is to have a hammer with which to hit consumers who haven&#8217;t said anything false,&#8221; says Paul Levy, a lawyer with Public Citizen. &#8220;But you can make them take it down, and you can seek damages, you can seek attorney&#8217;s fees, what might you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Levy says gag clauses like these can limit truthful speech and deprive consumers of valuable information when choosing where to spend their money.<\/p>\n<p>After a lengthy legal back and forth, the Palmers won a default judgment in federal court and their credit was restored.<\/p>\n<p>But their case was an extreme example.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Surely 95 percent of the time consumers simply remove the review, rather than stand behind their words, in order to avoid any potential legal action,&#8221; says Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.<\/p>\n<p>He says it&#8217;s likely that the use of these gag clauses is much more widespread than it appears.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So the number of lawsuits are fairly rare because there&#8217;s a much larger group of reviews that have been removed under the threat of lawsuits,&#8221; Goldman says.<\/p>\n<p>The KlearGear case attracted media coverage around the country and helped gain the attention of legislators. California passed a law outlawing the use of non-disparagement clauses to limit customer reviews in 2014. Online review platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor joined the effort to pass federal legislation.<\/p>\n<p>It culminated last week, when President Obama signed the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/114th-congress\/house-bill\/5111\">Consumer Review Fairness Act<\/a> into law after it passed unanimously in the Senate last month. It prohibits businesses from putting non-disparagement clauses into terms of service.<\/p>\n<p>Those clauses &#8220;will not work in court. And they will expose the business that tries to use those techniques to potential liability,&#8221; Goldman explains. He points out that under the law, businesses will still have the ability to combat false reviews through defamation law.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone is happy about the new law, however. Joe Sullivan, an Atlanta business attorney who regularly advises businesses on how to deal with negative online reviews, says he&#8217;s heard some pushback from businesses, none of whom wanted to speak on the record.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t necessarily a solution in search of a problem,&#8221; he says, &#8220;but it was something where it wasn&#8217;t a widespread practice.&#8221; Sullivan says there wasn&#8217;t much incentive for companies to use this kind of fine print to sue customers.<\/p>\n<p>He says some businesses view the law as an effort by consumer review sites to grow their customer base.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the concerns of some businesses, Jen Palmer is happy that the new law means customers like her will not face legal retaliation in the future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very glad to hear that this seems to be the one thing that Congress can agree on,&#8221; she says. &#8220;I&#8217;d definitely call it the best Christmas present of all, to make sure that nobody else has to go through this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/\">Let&#8217;s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/fivefilters\/block-ads\/wiki\/There-are-no-acceptable-ads\">(Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}