Psychiatrist Files Lawsuit Over Wordless One-Star Review
from the 5/5-would-set-fire-to-reputation-again dept
A South Carolina psychiatrist in engaged in what might be one of the all-time great windmill tilts. It's a libel lawsuit predicated on a single one-star review -- a review that contains nothing else but the solitary star.
When a person using a phony name posted a one-star rating – out of five stars – about psychiatrist Dr. Mark Beale on a Google Maps locator box, Beale saw it.
He was not amused. In fact, the Charleston-area psychiatrist was so disturbed that he filed a libel lawsuit against “John Doe.”
Beale in a separate court action now is demanding that the Internet behemoth Google divulge “John Doe’s” real name so he can go forward with his libel suit against the anonymous negative commenter. Google, headquartered in California, has 72,000 employees and is the world’s most widely used search engine.
The one-star review on Google “unfairly caused him to lose the goodwill and confidence of the community ... and harmed him in a way that lowers the estimation in the community about his professional practice as a psychiatrist,” wrote Steve Abrams, Beale’s attorney in the action, filed in state court in Charleston County.
Beale alleges a lot of things in his suit. He claims the one-star rating -- left by a single person with zero additional commentary -- has led to "extreme and constant distress." He points out he has received mostly positive ratings elsewhere and that the person clicking on the single star -- "Richard Hill" -- is not a patient of his, at least not under that name.
Of course, Beale's online ratings have fallen significantly since the filing of this lawsuit. Some have pointed out the "extreme and constant distress" Beale claims to be suffering as a result of this single single-star review isn't the sort of reaction one would expect from a mental health professional.
The separate action against Google is even more extreme. Beale wants Google to divulge the real name of the person who left the review and his attorney apparently can't understand why the company would be reluctant to do so.
Beale's attorney, Steven Abrams of Mount Pleasant, said he has handled several similar cases, and companies like Google, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon typically hand over identifying information of anonymous users.
“Why Google fought this case, I have no earthly idea,” Abrams said. “There’s not really a lot of case law (in South Carolina) ... on these types of cases because they don’t usually result in a fight.”
Maybe he should get out more. Reviews are protected speech, for the most part. Stated opinions aren't defamation, no matter how caustic they are. That Google would oppose the unveiling of a person who effectively said nothing more than "1 out of 5" should be unsurprising, not a point of confusion. Besides, as Google pointed out in court filings, Beale has plenty of "more speech" options to combat the one-star review that have nothing to do with pursuing bogus defamation claims.
Google’s legal filing in the case asserts that the one-star posting by “John Doe” had no text with it and is just a “quintessential statement of opinion that cannot be proven true or false.”
Moreover, Google argues, the psychiatrist can post his own rebuttal to the one-star rating “on the same site” and “thereby easily correct any misstatements or falsehoods ... and generally set the record straight.”
So far, the only thing Beale has accomplished is making a fool of himself. His ratings at multiple sites are starting to collapse. At this point, there's nothing to be gained from pursuing the lawsuit, other than keeping his nonplussed counsel employed. His overreaction to a wordless one-star review has done more damage to his career than ignoring it ever would have.
Filed Under: anti-slapp, defamation, mark beale, one star review, opinion, reviews, slapp, south carolina, steve abrams
Companies: google
