Attorney Charles Harder Files Cert Petition to U.S. Supreme Court Against Yelp.com

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Media attorney Charles Harder of Harder LLP today announced his firm has brought a petition against Yelp.com to the United States Supreme Court on behalf of his client, attorney Dawn Hassell, who was defamed on the crowd-sourced review forum.

"For Yelp or any other social media platform to refuse to obey a Court Order to remove a defamatory post from its platform is outrageous," said Harder.  "Any individual or business who cares about their reputation should take notice."

Hassell, a small business owner, obtained a California court judgment ordering a defamer to remove defamatory statements proven in court to be false.  The court also ordered Yelp to remove the defamer's defamatory reviews containing false and malicious statements.  Inexplicably, rather than do the right thing, Yelp fought Hassell at every level of the court system, by claiming that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects websites from being sued for their editorial decisions to remove offensive content, supposedly gives Yelp the right to defy Court Orders and, instead, continue to publish illegal, defamatory statements that do great harm to small businesses and individuals. Yelp's position directly contravenes the text, history and intention of Section 230.

Harder hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to hear Hassell's case, and in so doing, vindicate the rights of all small business owners and all individuals in allowing them to ask a Court to order the removal of defamatory statements that threaten to destroy the businesses and personal reputations that they have worked so hard to build. 

About Harder LLP
Harder LLP is a law firm that specializes in litigation and reputation protection, including issues that arise from defamation, privacy, media, First Amendment, entertainment and intellectual property matters.  The firm's clients include Fortune 500 companies, A-list celebrities, Hollywood producers and well-known political figures.

SOURCE Harder LLP