"These statements contained in defendant's review posted online on yelp.com were seen and read by thousands, if not tens of thousands of consumers and prospective patients of plaintiff, as well as professional colleagues, who reside in and around the San Francisco Bay area, and were no doubt seen and read by many persons outside of the Bay Area."

Yeahhhhh....probably not true until you filed this lawsuit, Mr. Biegel.

@MissPeacock: You so totally stole my thoughts! That and your fabulous screen name - damn you!

How is it possible to claim damages when the Chiropracter's own actions are responsible for generating far more damage (more YELP page views of his negative review) than the actions of the plaintiff?

I've posted bad reviews of companies before online, I look forward to seeing how this turns out for my sake! I'm sure nothing will come of it as this would put a damper on free speech in my humble opinion.

Truth is only a defense to libel when you're talking about facts (and only in the US - it's not a defense, or perhaps defence, in the UK).

A lot of the statements here are opinions/commentary, so the truth defense doesn't really apply. That doesn't, of course, necessarily mean they're libelous.

I'm still laughing at 'honest chiropractor'.

Since chiropractors aren't doctors nor do they practice evidence based medicine, I will be happy when every one of them is out of business for pedaling their pseudoscience. They're mostly in the business of over charging you for unnecessary x-rays, cracking your back, and trying to upsell you on worthless unproven and disproven treatments. Chiropractors do not attend medical school and do not have any real residency requirements.

[www.chirobase.org]

Kind of like music companies assume billions of people downloaded illegal music through file sharing if you made it available, although there is no proof. "Your honor, the defendant had the song available for 2 months in his shared folder...with 1.4 billion people having access to the internet, and the average person downloading "Mmm Bop" on a daily basis, we feel the defendant owes 1.9 trillion dollars (including legal fees)."

I know a veterinarian something similar happened to (with one very important difference); her husband was politically involved in the community, and one of his political opponents started using Yelp and other Yelp-like services to trash her vet practice -- up to and including claiming that she KILLED THEIR CAT. On purpose. Claims ranged from her being "cold and uncaring" to her office being so dirty and failing to follow mandated safety procedures that it needed to be closed by the state. It was insane.

The very important difference was, THIS WOMAN HAD NEVER, EVER BEEN TO THE VET OFFICE. She had never once done business with the vet; everything she posted was invented wholesale. The vet spent MONTHS arguing with Yelp and the other services (seriously on the verge of tears half the time), and they all took an attitude of, "Hey, someone posted it, we can't do anything about that."

This is why I hate these kinds of services. They protect vindictive assholes behind a veil of anonymity, and they typically do almost nothing to police the sites and remove postings that actually ARE libelous (or even posts that devolve into outright threats). And I don't know how you strike the balance between letting people speak freely about truly negative experiences, and protecting companies from abuse and falsehood that really CAN, especially in a smaller community, destroy a reputation and a business.

@Tambar:

I know what you mean. Here is the most libelous statement.

Chiropractor = Witch doctor!!

Not to say that this is a good chiropractor, but those who condemn chiropractors have never been to a good one and have hobbled in but walked out...and they do receive post-bac degrees (Doctor of Chiropractics) from accredited schools

@JustThatGuy3: Yeah, expressing your happiness or dissatisfaction is not a statement of fact, and can't be proven to be true or false. Libel concerns false statements presented as fact. I don't believe that applies at all in this case.

One reason he gave me, was that he runs a business and would stick it to insurance companies (even though that drives my premiums up, and makes me wonder who else he sticks it to.)"

I did go to a doctor who actually told me that he was going to send in extra charges to my insurance company. He said this would help eat up my deductible so really it was a favor to me. Right.

So I'm not surprised his doctor said this but I still can't get over the fact that they'll tell patients that they're defrauding insurance companies.

@JustThatGuy3: Opinions and commentary presented as such do not fall under libel; only statements presented as facts.

I've never even heard of Yelp until I read this article.
So, the chiro is right... now I would never use him, not that I'm even in the SF area, but thanks for bringing your crappy practice to my attention through filing a frivolous lawsuit!

@Eyebrows McGee: Well like you said, the case you described was different. False statements were presented as fact, which is a clear case of libel.

In this case, it seems like the customer was simply expressing his dissatisfaction. It didn't sound like he was presenting this information as fact, which could be subjected to a "true or false" kind of examination (like with the cat thing you talked about). Instead, he was discussing his opinions and impressions, which cannot be proven true or false and cannot constitute libel.

@Eyebrows McGee: Maybe these services should use some kind of true identity service to remove the veil of anonymity that invites the jerk in most of us to step forward.

Dishonest chiropractors like this fool give the honest ones a bad name.

Seriously if you feel a chiropractor is ripping you off, go see someone else. Where I live Chiro's are a dime a dozen (lots of rich idiots live in Toronto: Manhattan's retarded cousin), so if one gets sketchy you could just walk down a block and find another one, or two, or four... I know this option isn't for everyone, but if your spine is that mangled, it might be worth the drive to the next town.

@JustThatGuy3: For a statement to be libelous, it must be a statement of fact. If I state an opinion, I cannot be (successfully) sued. For the lawsuit to work, the plaintiff must show that the defendant presented statements as facts which were a. not true, and b. harmful. If the defendant can prove that the statements are not of fact, or not true, then the plaintiff wins.

I don't know UK law, so the above only applies to the US. Also I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

@JustThatGuy3: @chrisjames: So the chiropractor's claims that his statements insinuate dishonesty probably isn't enough to find him guilty?

How can they state what people who read this review would think? How can they prove he lost any prospective clients through this or that his reputation was damaged? Isn't it all heresay and not provable in anyway? The guys is entitled to his opinion and they can't prove what that did or didn't make other unknown people think or feel. Waste of money and time.

They can subpoena the recorded hits on this review before and after the case was filed. If the hits on this pages before is just normal, average just like everyone else, then jumped AFTER the suit was filed, then the defendant can claim that no damage was done Until the suit and the subsequent generated publicity of the case was initiated.

@Eyebrows McGee: Sometimes you need places like that though to let everyone know about how terrible an institution is and there's no where else to complain.

I had a vet issue where they overcharged me on a quote to the tale of $600, gave my pets medications without my permission, lost their rabies tags, failed to give us our pet's medical history, failed to obtain my pet's medical history (after saying they would). When I tried to calmly discuss the issue with the Vet administrator he became agitated and called me a liar and a thief. I tried going through the BBB, but they were useless. I got all of my friends who went there to go to a different vet (they were much more satisfied after they left). So I went to every site that I could to let the world know how terrible this vet was. I'd like for them to sue me, that would make my year.

Can you be sued for a review? Sure. Can the plaintiff win? Most probably not.

But come on, it's a chiropractor. You can't expect more.

I have no idea of who is "in the right" (legally or ethically -- don't confuse yourself by approximating that what is legal has anything to do with what is "right") or who screwed who or . . . well, you get the point. But it has struck me as odd, for quite some time, the way that people and businesses alike tend to turn a blind eye and/or a deaf ear to things "said" (written) on the internet. People tend to forget that "free speech" does NOT mean that you can say whatever you want to say (look no further than "hate language") in person, in writing or in the virtual world.

I would love to see how this turns out . . .seems that it would establish some interesting precedent.

Case won't get far.

It was his friend's word that he was repeating. Not his own. If his friend testifies that he said that, charge 1 gone.

b) and c) are matters of "my word against yours" and unless someone has a tape, those charges are useless. d) is the same thing.

e) and f) are matters of opinion on the part of the defendant, so I doubt they'll get far.

I didn't take the time to read the rest of the case; I have more important things to do. IANAL but to me it looks like this case is frivolous on its face. Not to mention, he was commenting on a semi-public figure, which makes the charge of libel much harder to prove (unlike if he was slandering his neighbor for being a pedophile).

I think this case will fail.

This chiro sounds like a dickhead anyways. I wouldn't go see him EVER based on him suing this patient of his for such a stupid reason. Not because of what the patient said about him. Im glad he lost business because of the guys' post. Sticks and stones may break my bones.......LOL! Some people have way too much time on thier hands.

I recently wrote a review on Yelp that explained my dissatisfaction with a local business. I later went in to check my review so I wouldn't have to rewrite it in another review on Angie's List and found that it wasn't listed on the site but was still under my profile.

I contacted Yelp about it mostly because I thought there was a bug or that maybe I'd not submitted it correctly. I received the following response: "Yelp has a system which automatically determines which reviews show for a given business. Just as your Yahoo or Gmail email account doesn't deliver every email (spam, etc.), we don't show every review. This protects both business owners (by suppressing reviews that may have been written by a malicious competitor, for example) and consumers (by suppressing reviews that may have a definitive bias, having been written by owners or their friends)."

No other explanation or suggestion that my review would be "reviewed" by staff or anything. I thought that was a bit of a strange practice since it could end up with a business ending up with a better rating than they deserved. My point is what is the real value of these type of sites? I use Angie's List and it's fairly obvious when someone is just making up facts to slam a competitor as well as when they're just ranting assholes. If the remainder of the reviews are relatively unbiased or positive, one negative review shouldn't really have any effect. Still, the guy is making suggestions of impropriety and isn't stating anything as an opinion.

Next thing you know companies will be suing people who review products on Amazon. Or you for commenting on Consumerist.

@Eyebrows McGee: Did this opponent take the Charlie Wilson school of politiking?

Can you now post a review on Yelp saying "this chiropractor has sued a patient previously for leaving a negative review" or will that get me recursively sued?

That PDF link takes me to a women's clothing catalog, WTF?

Freedom of speech does not mean that you are free from the consequences which arise from what you say.

The lawsuit seems based on proving that the accusations are FALSE, not that they were mean or hurt him. If they can be proved false (which might be hard), then he's got the client under libel.

But if he's a self-righteous greedy b@$&%^$, and gets called on it... he should wake up and realize that it's the 21st century. He's in a service industry and customer satisfaction is something which can make or break you.

- Simon

Did I just read in statement 11 the chiropractor is partially suing for hurt feelings? Exactly how much can you get for that? I may have just found a supplemental source of income.

I use yelp all the time and I do say some negative things at times..I wonder if i'll ever get sued?

Someone up there is cranky about chiro's. My medical insurance covers chiropractors, acunpunture and other non-MD medicines for preventative procedures and as someone who has had back issues from the age of 14 because a orthopedist told me to go to a chiropractor regularly as an alternative to highly invasive surgery on my spine, well I'll go with the doctor.

There are plenty of honest and helpful chiros out there.

@Hodo: Well actually you CAN use hate language.

If you haven't noticed, the KKK is not illegal.

Neither is Fred Phelps the scum that pickets military funerals with signs saying god hates fags.

Using the "N" "F" word may be politically incorrect, depending on what group the offender belongs to - but it is not illegal.

@MissPeacock: It's known as the Streisand Effect.

Way to Streisand yourself, dude. I probably would have avoided him based on the Yelp review, but the lawsuit is the thing that really sealed the deal.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Many insurance companies have a fraud hotline, perhaps a phone call is in order...

Also? Isn't the burden of proof on the chiropractor here? I'd love to see his proof in this case.

@snowburnt: A statement of fact is a statement of fact. Insinuation is irrelevant. I could imagine an issue with the line "to cover his ass," though. Norberg would have to show that he was only inferring Biegel's behavior, and intended to present it that way: as an inference.

Regardless, Biegel will be laughed out of court if any of his actions are confirmed. It's not defamation of character if you have no character to begin with.

Isn't he, by definition, a fraud anyway by virtue of being a chiropractor?

@shufflemoomin: They don't necessarily have to prove harm was done, only that there was intention to harm (among other things). If he could prove harm was done, then he could sue for those damages too, but libel suits provide for a maximum judgement aside from actual damages.

@Rectilinear Propagation:
My doctor does something along the same lines. The average co-pay in my area is 10-15%, so the office ups all their charges by that amount and then does not request a co-pay. Yeah, it's technically fraudulent and drives up premiums (which get applied to overhead anyway)...

Universal healthcare/single payer anyone??

@johnarlington: I used to have terrible problems with my lower back that started in high school. About once a year or so I would have some kind of problem that would result in quite a bit of pain lasting a few weeks. I went to a "real" doctor who had been to medical school and residency and all he did was prescribe some useless muscle relaxers. Two years ago I started going to a chiropractor about twice a week for about 4 months. My back is in far better shape now than I ever remember it being. I can actually sit on the floor! I do go back in occasionally for an adjustment, but that is only once every few months. There are some bad chiropractors out there, but many chiropractors are decent, knowledgeable people who do a great deal of good.

@JustThatGuy3: Since joining the EU, the lack of limits on libel in the UK have been corrected -- truth is now a valid defence. Watch the film McLibel to see for yourself.

Interesting that the chiropractor has a Bachelor's degree from a university that doesn't exist.

[www.drbiegel.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]

@johnarlington: Watch it there, Johnarlington. Chiropractic has come a long way in recent decades. Our state's Blue Cross covers chiropractic treatments for a variety of joint and muscle conditions -- it's cheaper for them than covering orthopedic appointments and often has faster and more lasting results. I personally was helped by a chiropractor with chronic back pain that my doctor and orthopedist couldn't relieve except with groggy-making medications -- in two easy sessions.

Get recommendations, check BBB ratings and ties to teaching hospitals, but don't rule out chiropractic for many musculoskeletal conditions. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

@SavitriPleiades: My guess is that he's referring to SUNY, which does in fact exist.

Of course, depending on which SUNY school he attended, it may not be all that better than a non-existent school anyway.

@oneliketadow: Hah, I'd like to see him try to prove that one false.