EMOTIONAL DISTRESS: CONSUMER REVIEW WEBSITES
Wong v. Tai Jing (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 1354, 117 Cal.Rptr.3d 747
A man who was upset over the treatment his son had received from a pediatric dentist posted a number of criticisms of the dentist on Yelp.com, a website which posts consumer reviews of a variety of businesses. The dentist filed suit against the man, asserting causes of action for libel per se and intentional infliction of emotional distress, contending that the defendant’s comments falsely implied the dentist had not warned about mercury in a silver amalgam, that she had misdiagnosed the son’s case, and that she had improperly used a general anesthetic. The postings also included, “I wish there were a “0” star [] rating. Avoid her like a disease!”
When the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the action as a strategic lawsuit against public participation under the Anti-SLAPP statute (C.C.P. 425.16) the trial court denied the motion, finding that although the action arose from protected speech, the plaintiff had established a probability of success on the merits. The court of appeal held that the trial court had properly denied the motion as to the libel cause of action, but found that the causes of action for emotional distress should have been dismissed, in that the plaintiff’s response to the posting was not sufficiently severe or serious:
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