Yelp defamation lawsuit given OK to continue

Two months after a high-profile lawsuit against a commenter on the popular consumer rating website Yelp was settled out of court, another case against a user who left an unsavory comment about a business owner is being allowed to continue.

The case concerns a dentist in Foster City, California, which two parents, Tia Jing and Jia Ma, took their four-year-old son for a filling. On Yelp, Jing and Ma complained that their son was lightheaded after the procedure due to laughing gas and that he received a mercury filling. The dentist, Yvonne Wong, says those statements are untrue and libelous, so she sued, also claiming emotional distress from them. The comments have since been removed from the site.

Wong initially sued Yelp as well as Jing and Ma, but Yelp is shielded from the suit due to federal law, which prohibits any website for being liable for comments made by its users (which is why Craigslist can get away with its Rants & Raves section).

Meanwhile, Jing and Ma motioned to dismiss the suit but the judge in the case is letting it go forward, saying the dentist had shown "a probability of success on the merits" of the case. That doesn't mean the judge thinks Wong will win, just that she has sufficient evidence and a a strong enough chance to merit moving forward to trial.

Jing and Ma are appealing that ruling, but it feels likely that the case will either go to trial if it's not settled beforehand. Scary time out there if you have something negative to say on the Internet -- so mind your Ps and Qs lest you end up slapped with a lawsuit for running off at the mouth.

Still, it might be good to see this go all the way to trial, as its an area where legal precedent is generally lacking.