Someone Gave Your Business A 1-Star Review. Can You sue?

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Someone Gave Your Business A 1-Star Review. Can You sue?

June 30, 2022 Corporate & Commercial Disputes General Knowledge 0

Someone gave your business a 1-star review and it affected your business. Can you sue him/her? Can they justify why they say what they say?

Short answer, yes you can- you can actually sue that person for defamation. Likewise, the person can also justify why they say what they say. We will briefly look at it below. 

Defamation 101

The Defamation Act (1957) does specifically says what constitutes defamation. However, the Act made it very clear that there are two categories of defamation namely:

    1. Libel (permanent defamation)- written statements such as statements in written media, newspapers, social media, emails, and videos; and
    2. Slander (temporary defamation)- spoken statements or gestures.
  1.  

What are the statements that can fall into the two categories?

Over the years, the court has included statements such as:

  1. Statements that lowers a person’s reputation in the minds of right-thinking (i.e. reasonable) members of society;
  2. Statements that cause a person to be exposed to contempt, hatred, or ridicule; or
  3. Statements that belittle a person’s profession, calling, trade or business.

So how do you go around suing someone for defamation?

Question: What do you need to prove?

Answer:

If you want to sue a person for libel, you need to prove that:

  1. There is a written (defamatory) statement;
  2. It was directed at your business; and 
  3. The statement was published to other parties (other than your own business website).

If you want to sue a person for slander, you need to prove that:

  1. There is a statement made by utterances (spoken word), sounds, or other non-permanent forms;
  2. It was directed at your business; and 
  3. The statement was published to other parties (other than your own business website).

Question: How do you know if the statement is directed at your business?

Answer:

You must be able to show:

  1. That the statement is capable to be regarded/ referred to as your business; and
  2. A normal person will also be able to infer that the statement was made against your business.

Can the person justify why they say what they say?

Yes, provided that they can raise one of the three defenses below.

What are the available defenses?

1. Justification

The person needs to prove the truth of the facts within the statements that were made against your business. However, the person is not required to prove the truth of all the statements he/she made.

2. Fair comment

Unless the statement is made with malice, the person will need to prove that:

  1. The statement is a mere comment and not a statement of fact;
  2. The comments must be based on proven facts;
  3. The comments are fair comments;
  4. The comments must be on a matter of public interest.

3. Unintentional defamation

This targets the publisher who (unintentionally) publishes the statement the person makes.

The publisher has two ways of going around this:

  1. If the words are defamatory of that particular business in their natural and ordinary meaning which includes a false innuendo, the publisher must prove that:
    1. The publisher did not intend to publish the statements concerning that particular business that was defamed;
    2. The publisher did not know of the circumstances in which the statements might be understood to be referring to that particular business that was defamed; and
    3. The publisher had taken reasonable care before publishing the statements.
  2. If the words are defamatory due to certain external factors by way of true innuendo, the publisher must prove that:
    1. The publisher did not know of the circumstances in which the statements might be understood to be referring to that particular business that was defamed; and
    2. The publisher had taken reasonable care before publishing the statements.

The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information.

For further inquiries, please email us at general@mathews.my.

 

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