The owner of a Mr. Sandless in Staten Island, New York, recently won a lawsuit against a customer who called him a “con artist” and “liar,” and called his business a “scam,” in a posting on the public review site Yelp, according to the New York Daily News.
The woman was ordered by a judge to pay the owner, Matt Gardiner, $1,000 for her words, which the judge considered libelous. She told the newspaper she will appeal the verdict and is “bent on putting Gardiner out of business.”
The woman, Emily Fanelli, had her floors refinished for $695 last February. Gardiner told the newspaper that Fanelli was happy with the job at the time and had signed a document saying so. But then she called to complain about a fix and the relationship soured.
Fanelli wrote two biting Yelp reviews for Mr. Sandless and rated the company with one star. A bad Yelp rating can be disastrous for companies today, as more consumers turn toward social media networks to find where they should go for services.
One of the reviews said Gardiner “will destroy your floors he is nothing but a liar he robs customers and promises you everything you want… he is a scam liar bulls*****r.”
The judge found Fanelli’s reviews “personal in their invective and were designed to impugn his integrity and business practices with the intent to damage his business reputation.”
"I never once raised my voice to her," Gardiner told the newspaper. "She can slander my business all she wants. She just can't slander me, and that's the problem."
