A lawyer from Iasi requested 10,000 euros in compensation for a negative review on Google given by a client. What the magistrates decided
A lawyer from Iași asked the court for 10,000 euros in compensation and the deletion of a one-star negative review posted on Google by the son of a former client, claiming that it affected her image and professional activity.
Magistrates say the man expressed an opinion based on his experience/PHOTO: Shutterstock
In the action submitted to the Court, the lawyer LL showed that she had concluded a legal assistance contract with FBA in a file in which his mother appeared as a defendant, writes Ziarul de Iași.
He had invoked the limitation of the right to action, but the exception had been rejected by the court, and the woman had lost the case. Later, after the foreclosure began, the woman called on another lawyer to represent her. After the FBA had received the court order, he had written to the lawyer, accusing her of not bringing any evidence in his mother's defense.
After a telephone conversation between the lawyer and FBA, he had posted a review on her Google page. He had given it one star out of a possible five and added a comment that LL found derogatory. Being public, the review harmed his image, causing potential clients to turn to another lawyer.
LL showed that 84 reviews had been posted on his page. Most were favorable, the overall page rating being 4.8.
The lawyer asked the man to delete the negative review and pay compensation, but he refused, claiming that he was only expressing his dissatisfaction with the services he received. In the comment posted online, he accused her of not responding to his messages.
“I was sending him screenshots, he never responded, until the answer came that I had to pay the debt, as if no evidence was brought to our request. I contact the lawyer, and she, trying to dispatch me, tells me that I am not the firm's client, but my mother (the debt was in my mother's name).
I respectfully tell her that I am the one who hired her and who paid her. And from here follows a whole attempt by the lady to show what function she has and how God on earth she is and that I have to speak to her with salt and that I am ill-bred and that I don't know how to speak and that I should look for another lawyer.
Conclusion: He takes the money and then asks you who you are and kicks your ass. Because of this lawyer, instead of the 6,500 lei I had to pay, I end up paying TRIPLE, at best”, wrote FBA
Meanwhile, 94 reviews, mostly favorable, were recorded on the lawyer's page, with most of her clients rating her services as five stars.
The court in Iasi considered that the man expressed a personal opinion based on his experience and that he did not exceed the limits of freedom of expression.
“When they decide to open accounts in the virtual environment, with the possibility of being evaluated for the activity carried out, [avocații] must assume any opinion of those with whom they had a contractual relationship, as long as it is expressed politely and using decent language”the judges showed.
The magistrates also showed that the lawyer did not prove that the review caused her real damage, so the action by which she demanded compensation and the deletion of the comment was rejected.
