Another Court Shuts the Door on “Yelp Law” Drive-By Lawsuits–Arterberry v. Peet’s

Last week, I blogged the Moss v. GoDaddy decision holding that a key part of California’s Yelp Law doesn’t authorize a private right of action. If you didn’t read that post, go read it now because this post assumes you have. In short, California enacted the “Yelp Law” to restrict businesses from trying to stop their consumers from posting online reviews. The statute is divided into two main operative parts. (a)(1) targets TOS provisions that restrict consumer reviews. (a)(2) targets businesses’ efforts to enforce those TOS provisions. A small team of plaintiff lawyers have been cruising the Internet, looking for TOS provisions that they claim are consumer review restrictions, and then asserting (a)(1) violations for those TOS provisions hoping for payoffs. In these enforcements, no consumer has actually been stifled in their remarks (that would support an (a)(2) violation). Worse, the plaintiffs’ lawyers often fail to display basic reading comprehension because their claims target…