Hotel suing TripAdvisor user who posted negative review...
Lincoln City hotel sues for defamation after anonymous
person posts scathing TripAdvisor review
on May 21, 2014 at 12:35 PM, updated May 21, 2014 at 6:00
PM
Less than a month after an anonymous TripAdvisor.com user
posted a very unflattering review of a Lincoln City hotel, the hotel has filed
a $74,500 defamation lawsuit in an attempt to stop the reviewer from posting
again and driving away business.
The Ashley Inn -- which is owned by the Lincoln City
Lodging Limited Partnership -- is up in arms about an April 23 review that
stated “laundry and housekeeping are either high or drunk” and “breakfast is
nasty, the rooms are nasty,” according to the suit. The review also claimed
that “the owner smokes weed” and “Jen front desk had phone sex with someone,”
the suit states.
The critique appears to have been taken down. It was not
on TripAdvisor.com as of Wednesday. But, states the suit: “Defendant’s review
was accessible to any person who visited TripAdvisor from a computer device in
Oregon.”
The lawsuit claims that the person who posted the review,
under the user name “12Kelly,” misrepresented that he or she lives in Prescott,
Arizona, and stayed at the inn in March. The suit states that once the identity
of the reviewer is found, his or her name will be listed as the defendant.
The hotel has generally garnered good reviews on
TripAdvisor.com, with 286 critiques posted and an average rating of four out of
five points. Among the comments, “Love the place and love the staff” and “Best
treasure in Lincoln City.” Some other reviewers had bad things to say but to a
lesser degree than 12Kelly’s review. Their reviews have remained online.
In March, the Oregon Court of Appeals for the first time
took up the issue of whether Oregon business owners can sue people who post
scathing reviews on Yelp, Angie’s List, Facebook or elsewhere. In its March
ruling, the appeals court said the owners of an outdoor wedding venue could sue
a wedding guest who posted a Google Review that included the statement that
attending the event was “The worst experience of my life!”
The Ashley Inn’s lawsuit, filed this week in Multnomah
County Circuit Court, claims that 12Kelly’s review is full of lies.
“Defendant made the statements deliberately, maliciously,
and willfully with the specific intent to cause damage to the character and
reputation of Lincoln City Lodging and the Inn,” the suit reads.
The suit was filed by Portland attorney Jeffrey Frasier.
-- Aimee Green
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