Lawyer Ranking Site Avvo Sued By Another Upset Lawyer
from the and-avvo-hits-back dept
We've seen plenty of stories of review or ranking sites that get sued by people upset about their reviews, but one such site that seems to get extra special attention is Avvo -- and that's because it's a ranking and review site for lawyers. Soon after the site was launched a few years back, it was sued -- leading a judge to dismiss the suit, pointing out that rankings are opinions and opinions are protected by that old First Amendment thing. However, it appears another lawyer is suing the site, claiming libel among other things.Avvo hit back in a blog post highlighting some history that the lawyer in question, Joe Davis, probably doesn't want to generate any more attention (such as being "twice convicted and spent eight days in the pokey") and suggesting that it's the desire to hide this info that is the real reason behind the lawsuit.
So, how does Davis try to get around the whole "opinion/free speech" thing? Well, he tries to find some factual errors in his profile -- such as the page claiming that he practices "100% employment/labor law," which is apparently not the case. That said, it's difficult to see how such an error amounts to libel. Also, apparently Avvo has the wrong address, which Davis suggests is a "misrepresentation." He also claims that Avvo's "failure to take into account" Davis' Board Certification (which is mentioned over and over and over and over again in the complaint as if that, alone, conquers all) is a "misrepresentation" as well.
From there, Davis suggests that various fluctuations he saw in his ratings over a period of a few days "obviously occurred based solely" on his "level of participation" on the site, rather than "what is in the public record." Davis also gets upset that his profile points people to other, competing lawyers, and claims that Google forbids a similar practice. Unfortunately, I believe Davis is simply wrong on this point:
Google's AdWords' policies prohibit AdWords users from doing the very same thing that Avvo.com does--that is, to hijack a competitor's name as a key search word to trigger the appearance of a competitor's ad next to the competitor's search results.But Google actually does allow that and has fought an awful lot of lawsuits that it's usually won, saying that such a practice is perfectly legal. In fact, Google just recently changed its European policy to have it match the US policy in allowing greater use of trademarked terms in AdWords.
There's also a suggestion that by using Davis' photo from his own website, Avvo may have violated copyright and local Florida statutes on using images of lawyers. The full complaint is a bit rambling, and at times rather informal, which makes for some fun reading, but seems like the sort of thing that a judge might not appreciate:
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: defamation, lawyers, opinions, rankings
Companies: avvo
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I agree with the first AC that it is curious that Davis seems to think Google's AdWords policy somehow creates a de facto rule as to what is appropriate. And in any event, he's mis-stating their policy, since Google does in fact permit nominative uses.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
"That's why you're the judge...
*sigh*
I really miss Phil Hartman.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Doubtful allegation
FWIW, I have received occasional solicitations from Avvo, to which I have never responded; but so far as I know it has not published anything mean about me.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Never to a lowly cop.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Doubtful allegation
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
They sue of course.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Aerozol -
-Conrad from Avvo
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Funny
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Information to the Public
[ link to this | view in thread ]
AVVO Inside Out by Richard Rizk ( three parts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vVw8NCNPR4
http://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=DkizZZJWDXw
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lawyers need something to do.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cleaning it up
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cleaning it up
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Doubtful allegation
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]