Doctor sues patient for $25,000 over negative Yelp review: 'I can't believe it'
When Kelly Beavers took her 67-year-old father to Dr. Kaveer Nandigam at his office in Murfreesboro, Tenn., she left feeling unimpressed with how Nandigam conducted the checkup.
Beavers' dad had been referred to the clinic after being told he might be showing early signs of dementia. Beavers, not wanting to forget anything the doctor said and with her father experiencing some memory loss, decided to record the interaction with Nandigam.
Beavers then claims that Nandigam became furious with her when he realized he was being recorded and demanded she hand over her phone. Beavers typically recorded doctor's visits and never ran into a problem before, and Tennesee is a "one-party consent" state — meaning, as long as one person in the conversation is aware of the recording (in this case Beavers and maybe also her father), then permission is generally not required for anyone else.
Despite the recording being legal and innocently intentioned, Beavers deleted the audio after Nandigam kept pestering her to do so.
Following the office incident, an employee at the clinic then called Beavers to explain that phones were not allowed in the office.
Frustrated and furious, Beavers took to Yelp and left a negative review for Nandigam on Nandigam Neurology's page.
"This 'Dr's' behavior today was totally unprofessional and unethical to put it mildly," Beavers wrote. "I will be reporting him to the State of TN Medical Review Board and be filing a formal complaint. How this guy is in business is beyond me. Since when did they start allowing Doctors, to throw a complete temper tantrum in front of Patients and slam things when they get upset? He does not belong in the medical field at all."
Nearly a month later, on Nov. 27, Nandigam Neurology filed a $25,000 lawsuit against Beavers, saying her Yelp review was made up of "false, disparaging, and misleading statements" about the doctor. The lawsuit also demanded she take the post down.
"Just in shock, I can't believe it," Beavers told NewsChannel 5. "They just don't want any negative reviews and they don't want people to talk about or give a bad review."
Evan Mascagni, an attorney working for the Policy Director at the nonprofit, Public Participation Project, told CNBC, "Most Americans don't realize they can be sued for writing an online review."
Some states, Tennesee included, have something called an anti-SLAPP law in place that protects free speech. This law aims to stop people from filing "baseless lawsuits" that are created to censor any critical commentary – which is a good sign in Beavers' case.
But it's still possible to be sued from a negative Yelp review, and even with anti-SLAPP laws in place, costs can rack up for defense attorneys.
In July, Tom Lloyd was sued by DeLand Animal Hospital in Florida after he posted an angry review on their Yelp page. In May 2018, a New York woman was sued for $1 million by her gynecologist over a negative review. Randy Winchester was sued for leaving a three-star review on a Bigfoot-themed amusement park.
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