Yelp Ordered to Take Down Negative Online Review After Law Firm Wins Defamation Case: Yelp Fighting Back (with Lotsa Big Gun Help)

A negative online review is posted by unhappy client on Yelp.com.  The negative Yelp review discusses services provided by a lawyer and law firm. So the law firm files a lawsuit, arguing that the online review is derogatory and has hurt business. Sound familiar?

It should.  It happened two years ago here in Texas.  

For details, read "Texas Law Firm Sues Client Over Negative Online Review at Yelp.Com." It includes a link to their original petition, as filed in the Travis County District Court.  

California Court Orders Yelp to Remove Negative Review Held to be Defamatory

Different twist out on the West Coast, one that's getting lots of media coverage.  There, a California personal injury law firm filed suit seeking damages allegedly resulting from a negative online review. 

Difference here between the two suits?  The California case includes Yelp being ordered to take down the review.  

Spearheaded by plaintiffs' lawyer Dawn Hassell, the California law firm won at both the trial and appellate levels (admittedly easily done as the author of the online reviews failed to show up and "defaulted.")  

Hassell's victory?  That's big news right there.  But there's more.

California Appeals Court Agrees With Court Order  to Remove Negative Review

The California judge ordered Yelp to remove the defamatory online review from its site.  And the California appeals court affirmed his decision.  

Their reasoning?  Read the appellate opinion: Hassell v. Bird, No. A143233 (Cal. Ct. App. June 7, 2016).

Yelp was not ordered to pay monetary damages to the law firm.  (Doing so would arguably violate the California Communications Decency Act.)  

Big deal here:  Yelp was NOT a defendant in the California case.  The law firm didn't sue Yelp.  It came into the case after it was ordered to remove the review.  Anyone else thinking about a possible due process problem?  

Go into all the legal stuff with Eric Goldman on his blog.  

Read Yelp's Petition for Review to the California Supreme Court.

California Supreme Court Reviewing Case; Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft Write to the Court

Bigger news.  The "friends of the court" that are entering the arena.  

It's reported that powerhouses including Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft have written to the California Supreme Court.  This is fine; it's called acting as a "friend of the court," or "amicus curaie." 

Their letter warns Hassell's victory, if not reversed, will endanger free speech and otherwise do bad things.  

Among others filing before the California Supreme Court wanting a reversal:

• Public Citizen - read their amicus curaie filing here;
• Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press - read their amicus here;
• RStreet - read their amicus filing here; and
• Bunch of Law Professors (letter by Professor Eugene Volokh) - read their letter here, as published by the Washington Post in Volokh's article dated August 19, 2016, that has some helpful background information. 

Docket Information on Hassell v. Bird

Interested in what happens?  The California Supreme Court Docket for Case S235968, styled Hassell v. Bird, is online and upon request, notices of new developments will be emailed to you. 

• On September 21, 2016, the California Supreme Court granted writ.

NaNoWriMo 2016: Getting Ready Tip No. 1

National Novel Writing Month begins in 45 days.  I'm going to participate again this year.

One of the hurdles I have failed to jump in past NaNoWriMo years has been the requirement that you cut and paste your writing into their platform.

This is how they track your progress, and how you confirm to their Powers That Be that you have written 50,000 words in 30 days' time.

Scares me.  I've had my online published work stolen on more than one occasion.  Am I paranoid? Gun-shy?  Whatever I am, it's been enough for me to keep track of my own word count and forego inserting my work into the NaNoWriMo web site.

And even if I get over that fear, there's another problem.  I like to write with a pen and paper as much or more as with a keyboard.  More on that on my blog Everyday Simplicity, "Cursive Handwriting vs Typing Your Words."

So, how am I to insert handwritten content into their platform?  Scan and OCR it?  Re-type it? No way, Jose.  

Well, I have discovered how to get around that obstacle.  As for my trepidation of putting 50,000 words into the NaNoWriMo site -- I'm working on that one.  Fingers crossed.

NaNoWriMo Tip No. 1: Converting Handwritten Content for Daily Word Count

There is a wonderful site called Lorem Ipsum which is a godsend for NaNoWriMo as far as I'm concerned.  It provides a way to insert typed words that correspond to your handwritten word count.

Now, you have to know your handwritten word count, that's a given.  You must overcome any temptation to just stick stuff into the platform willy-nilly.  (Lorem Ipsum is kinda fascinating with what it conjures up as text.)

Using the Lorem Ipsum site will allow my handwritten content to be counted in NaNoWriMo.  I think this will work.  It's making me more excited about November.  And I feel less vulnerable to losing my stuff by uploading it onto their site.

Maybe this will help you, too, Dear Reader.

I created the above image using Canva's free service and I release it into the public domain.

This file is in public domain, not copyrighted, no rights reserved, free for any use. You can use this picture for any use including commercial purposes without the prior written permission and without fee or obligation.

Benjamin Franklin's Daily Routine: What Good Will You Do Today?

There's much to be discovered in how to live a productive life, making the most of your day, in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography.  

You can read it here at Gutenberg.org (or download it in several different formats, including Kindle).

It's in the public domain.

1.  Benjamin Franklin's Morning Prayer

.

First off, Ben Franklin prayed.  Franklin wrote (p. 148):

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd to my tables of examination, for daily use.

"O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest! strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me."

I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's
Poems, viz.:

          "Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!
          O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!
          Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
          From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
          With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
          Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"

2. Benjamin Franklin's Daily Routine or "Scheme"

You can find the daily routine he created for himself on page 148 as well.  Here it is (click on the image once to see a larger and easier-to-read version):

I love this "scheme."  I like how he wrote his own prayer to start the day, and how his question to himself is "what good shall I do this day?"

What good shall I do today?  What good are you going to accomplish today?