Legal Question in Business Law in California

Libel and Damages

I repair major household appliances. I had a customer that I serviced. He paid me a labor charge of $129.00 to reassemble his dishwasher, which he had taken apart and couldn't reassemble himself. Firstly, I checked the machine and found nothing wrong with it. Then I reassembled it and tested it. Everything was working fine. I left. He signed my invoice that he was satisfied with my work. About a month later he called me again and said it wasn't working again. I told him it would be a new call. He got very huffy and demanding and while I tried to explain to him why that would be, he hung up the phone.

He then put a libelous review of me on Google. I wrote him and told him I would take him to court if he did not remove it. He removed it. Then 2 months later a customer told me she was cancelling our appointment because she saw a bad review on me on Yelp. After research I found the same review was on Yelp and also Yahoo and who knows where else. I've obviously lost at least that job and I'm certain many more as I get alot of work from the Internet. (Damages). So, I filed a small claims case against him for the libel and damages. Do you any California law that would support my cause? Or anything else I should know??

Thanks


Asked on 1/17/09, 10:05 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Libel and Damages

Calling the review libelous does not make it so. Without knowing what the review said, there is no way to know whether it really was libelous.

Libel is defined as a false statement of fact made to third parties which damages the subject's reputation. The customer who canceled was a third party, and her statement that she did so because of the review suggests that your reputation has been damaged. What your message doesn't tell us is whether the review contained false statements of fact. If all it contained were harsh statements of opinion, you probably won't get anywhere with your case.

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Answered on 1/17/09, 10:11 pm


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