Negative reviews of dog obedience school on Yelp, Angie's List lead to defamation lawsuit
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The owner of a Virginia dog obedience school has filed a $65,000 defamation lawsuit against a former customer for posting negative reviews of her business on Yelp and Angie’s List.
Colleen Dermott, the owner of Dog Tranquility in Burke, Virginia, says the comments were false and damaged her business, which had previously gotten only positive reviews, the Washington Post reports.
But defendant Jennifer Ujimori isn’t backing down. She says she is contesting the suit because too many businesses are using the courts to try to prevent customers from voicing their opinions on review sites.
“For me, it’s a matter of principle and public interest,” she told the Post. “People should be free to express their feelings about their service providers. Companies using the legal system to silence their critics has a chilling effect on First Amendment rights.”
The dispute began in January when Ujimori enrolled her white Bolognese puppy, Yuki, in a basic obedience class for $175 at Dermott’s school. Ujimori said she wanted to socialize Yuki, hoping that he could become a therapy dog for sick children and the elderly.
But Ujimori said the 14-week-old, four-pound dog was put in a class with much older and bigger dogs and kept in a gated-off area away from other animals.
She said she asked for a pro-rated refund but was refused. Then she took to Yelp and Angie’s List.
“In a nutshell, the services delivered were not as advertised and the owner refused a refund,” she wrote in her Yelp review, which has since been removed.
Dermott said she sent e-mails to Ujimori before the start of class explaining how it would be run. She also said Ujimori had signed a contract with a no-refund clause, and that she had tried unsuccessfully to resolve the matter before resorting to a lawsuit.
Updated on March 27 to fix typos in references to Jennifer Ujimori.
